AN: TY FOR READING.
SCOTLAND
Wanda hesitated before putting her phone back in her pocket, she took both of her boyfriend's hands with her own and stops him from walking off with a gentle pull. Vision, clad in his human form, squeezes them, almost in a desperate manner. Wanda sighs and gives him a weak smile.
"So... There's a 10 AM to Glasgow to give us more time together before you go back."
Wanda wanted to avoid his eyes but Vision was adamant about looking into her eyes.
"What if I miss that train?"
"T-There is an 11."
Vision stepped in closer, making Wanda's heart flutter within her chest.
"What if I missed all the trains? What if this time, I didn't go back?"
Wanda shook her head and bit her lip.
"You gave Stark your word."
Vision smiled at her gently.
"I'd rather give it to you."
"There are people who are expecting me too, you know. We both made promises."
"Not to each other."
Vision puts his hands on her shoulders.
"Wanda… for two years, we've stolen these moments, trying to see if this could work. And... I don't know."
Vision stammers making Wanda smile at his shyness.
"You know what, I'm just gonna speak for myself - I, I... I think..."
"It works."
Wanda grinned at him, enjoying how he stammered from his own nervousness. Vision nodded with a slight blush on his cheeks.
"It works."
Vision pressed his head against hers and gently whispers to her.
"Then stay. Stay with me."
Wanda looks down, but then her eyes and attention drift to her left. Movement catching her attention from the store inside.
Vision who was suddenly very uncertain from her lack of an answer took it back.
"O-Or not. If I'm overstepping…"
Wanda steps over to a better view of the TV in the kebab shop at which they had stopped, drawing Vision with her. It shows coverage of the invasion of New York, the aliens that attacked, and the disappearance of Tony Stark.
Wanda spoke now with a fearful tone in her voice.
"What are they?"
Vision gritted his teeth and kicked himself for how ignorant he has been.
"What the stone was warning me about."
He kisses her hand and gives her a worried look.
"I have to go."
Wanda shakes her head as Vision steps off into the street.
"No, Vision. Vision, if that's true… then maybe going isn't the best idea."
"Wanda...I-"
Corvus Glaive suddenly appears behind Vision and stabs him through the back. Vision screams, loses his glamour to return to his green, red and gold appearance, and is thrown down the street.
"Vision!"
She circles her hands, gathering up energy for a counterattack when Proxima Midnight blasts her from behind, knocking the Scarlet Witch across the street and through a bistro's window.
Corvus Glaive pins Vision down and digs the point of his high-tech glaive into Vision's forehead in an attempt to extract the Mind Stone, making the super bot scream in pain.
Wanda commits her own surprise attack and blasts both of the aliens away. She then lifts Vision and herself into a nearby courtyard, from where Wanda drags him to rest in a concealed alleyway. She pulls him towards her and places a hand on his chest as Vision sputtered to speak.
"T-The blade. It stopped me from phasing."
Wanda's blood ran cold at the sight of the wound.
"Is that even possible?"
Vision shook his head and grunted in pain.
"It isn't supposed to be."
His voice distorts electronically.
"My systems are failing."
Wanda gestures over his gaping wound, using her magic to knit him back together slowly. Vision continues in a gasping, wry voice.
"I'm beginning to think... we should have stayed in bed."
Wanda gives him an anxious smile and Corvus Glaive suddenly arrives, knocking the Scarlet Witch aside and grabbing Vision, taking him into the air with a powerful jump.
"Vis!"
Corvus flies away with Vision, slamming him against several walls. Meanwhile, Proxima engages Wanda with her staff weapon and they too begin to fight. Corvus pressed Vision against a wall with his weapon and snarls at him threateningly.
"Give up the Stone, and she lives."
Vision flies with Corvus to the roof of what appears to be a church, ricocheting off the stone church tower and onto the metal-clad roof.
Simultaneously, Proxima and Wanda fight below. Proxima uses the blaster effect of her weapon to knock the Scarlet Witch meters away, stunning her. Proxima leaps down, brandishing her weapon within bare inches of Wanda's face, only held back by her powers.
Furiously, Vision pummels Corvus into the wall, then throws him across the roof, firing a beam from the Mind Stone. Corvus uses his glaive to deflect the beam, splitting it into several smaller ones, cutting up the ancient stone like butter, until one branch finally reflects back at Vision, slamming him into the wall behind him.
Down below, Wanda has blocked Proxima's staff once again when she hears an agonized cry from Vision. Desperation strengthens her to throw Proxima through the burning lorry sliced in half by the split Stone beam, stunning the alien. Wanda then flies up to the roof where Glaive has pinned Vision and is again attempting to remove the Mind Stone.
"Hands off!"
The Scarlet Witch casts a bolt of magic which throws Corvus back through the wall and down a shaft, then flies the two of them away again. Proxima, who has recovered, shoots a bolt from her weapon, causing them to fall from the air and down through the roof of a train station. Wanda crawls over to Vision, who cannot muster the strength to stand.
Wanda kneels next to him and speaks to him in a hushed voice, pleading.
"Come on. Come on, you gotta get up. You gotta get up."
She attempts to make him stand but Vision falls weakly with a pained gasp.
"Come on. Hey. Hey. We have to go!"
Vision places a hand against her cheek and gives her a weak smile.
"Please. Please leave."
Wanda shook her head as tears began forming beneath her eyes.
"You asked me to stay... I'm staying!"
"Please."
One lone tear dropped from her face and she desperately pulled at his arm to no avail.
"Get up!"
Behind them, Proxima and Corvus crash through the roof and advance on them, brandishing their weapons. Wanda moves protectively in front of Vision, building power in her hands.
All of a sudden a slow repeating metal thud could be heard from behind the two aliens and they both quickly turned to assess their new situation.
"Are two gonna kiss or what?"
Wanda and Vision both looked at the figure incredulously.
"Ultron?!"
From the shadows walked out a familiar eight-foot-tall mechanical being with a smirk on his face. Corvus and Proxima give each other a look before brandishing their weapons against him.
"Oooh, how terrifying."
Ultron's voice was layered with sarcasm. He looks behind the couple as an express train passes by and calls out.
"Isn't that right, Cap!?"
As the express train passes behind Wanda, Proxima cocks her head as if aware of another's presence. Confused, the Scarlet Witch also turns and looks over her left shoulder. As the last train car passes, a silhouette can be seen on the far side of the platform. Proxima throws her weapon at the shadowy figure, but it is deftly caught just before the figure steps from the shadows.
A bearded and furious Steve Rogers steps into the light. Vision and Wanda look hopeful and relieved. While all parties are distracted, Falcon swoops in and kicks Proxima across the platform and through the closed cafe's security gate and furniture. Three Ultron drones flew in after the Falcon and immediately dove into the cafe to hold Proxima down. Falcon uses this opening to swoop around and fires on Corvus with his guns.
At the same time, Captain America throws Proxima's weapon to Black Widow, who engages Corvus, ducking under his swing and engaging in a deadly dance of thrusts and slashes. Ultron joins in to assist her, blocking attacks that would hit her with his reflective arms and fending Corvus off with his own laser blades.
As they push him back into a corner, Corvus kicks backwards at Black Widow who falls and stabs Ultron in the chest. Ultron takes the full blade into his chest and smirks, clearly unfazed from his attack. His chest excretes a liquid metal that seemingly covers the spearhead and Corvus struggles to rip out his weapon which was now stuck. Natasha uses this chance to stab Corvus in the back with Proxima's weapon and the alien roars in pain. Corvus falls to the ground and Ultron rips out the glaive from his chest, throwing it to the ground with no further thought.
Ultron kicks Corvus away from them towards the rails and deactivates his swords. He gives Natasha a mechanical wink who in return rolls her eyes and quickly rushes towards the cafe.
Proxima, who has rushed back to the fight after dealing with the drones, summons her weapon back to her hand and attacks Black Widow. Captain America leaps forward and rolls, scooping up Corvus's dropped glaive and holds her off. Black Widow produces her own escrima sticks and helps the Captain fight off the alien. While the three are fighting, Falcon returns and again kicks Proxima backwards; she scuttles over to the prone Corvus. Falcon draws both of his submachine pistols on the couple and Ultron raises a singular hand, preparing his own nano blaster similar to Starks new suit.
Proxima looks to Corvus and practically growls at him.
"Get up."
"I-I can't."
Natasha stands proud and bares her weapons once more.
"We don't wanna kill you. But we will."
Ultron was taken aback and looks to the female Ex-Avenger.
"Wait, I thought we were going to kill them?"
The female alien sneered at them and taps against her wrist device.
"You'll never get the chance again."
Proxima Midnight and Corvus Glaive depart as they are beamed up. The glaive is snatched from Captain America's hand as well and he watches in surprise as they rise. Ultron deactivates his blaster, which reverted back to a hand, and points to the sky looking at Natasha.
"See!? We should have killed them!"
Steve gives him a look of authority and Ultron sags in shoulders in defeat with a sigh.
"Whatever..."
Falcon quickly got to Vision's side and helps him up slowly.
"Can you stand?"
Electricity shimmers over Vision's surface, and his voice distorts as he speaks.
"Thank you, Captain."
Ultron coughs audibly raises a hand to his ear, cupping it with his hand.
"...And...?"
Vision laughs weakly and nods.
"And Ultron."
Steve gets on the other side of Vision and helps Falcon to raise him better.
"Let's get you on the jet."
They walk outside to where the jet was parked near some railway lines and carefully got Vision inside. Ultron took the pilot seat and Natasha closes the doors to the Quinjet while addressing Wanda.
"I thought we had a deal. Stay close, check-in. Don't take any chances."
Wanda puts her head down and nods.
"I-I'm sorry. We just wanted time."
Falcon who was sat in the co-pilot seat looks behind him to address the Captain.
"Where to, Cap?"
Steve looks up thoughtfully at all of them and then to the window.
"Home."
"Uh... My home. You all technically got kicked out."
They all gave Ultron a look and suddenly the Robot felt extremely awkward as they all stared at him.
"Alright! Sorry for making small talk..."
He started tapping into the flight controls and he looked behind him once more as he found the silence unbearable.
"Music?"
\ /
After a short flight, the Quinjet arrives at the upstate New York Avengers HQ. Ultron stands and opens the door via his control over the network and helps Vision up out of his seat.
"I'll deal with your wound. I'm afraid the most I can do is stitch it together with a lesser material."
Ultron walks Vision off the Quinjet, leaving Wanda and Natasha to be the last ones on.
"Thank you, Ultron."
Wanda watches the exchange warily and Natasha pats her on the back noticing her gaze on the two super bots.
"Does he not hate us?"
Natasha crossed her arms and shrugged.
"Tony brought him back. Of course, we can't really prove that since Tony is now missing, but he hasn't exactly shown any bad signs at the moment."
Natasha smiled and tapped Wanda's shoulder.
"He even brought us a peace offering."
Wanda looked at her in surprise.
"He did?"
Natasha smirked and nodded to the empty tubs of ice cream in the jet behind them. They both laughed and followed after the bots, going back into the Avengers facility.
"Knew my favourite flavour and everything."
\ /
Col. James "Rhodey" Rhodes was in the middle of dealing with the holographic person of Thaddeus Ross, the secretary of state. The secretary was sat by a table along with others, all of them busy signing papers and handing them around the room.
"Still no word from Vision?"
Rhodey shook his head and kept his arms crossed.
"Satellites lost him somewhere over Edinburgh."
"On a stolen Quinjet with four of the world's most wanted criminals."
Rhodey nodded his head and looked down at his leg braces.
"You know they're only criminals because you've chosen to call them that, right, sir?"
Ross sighed into his hand and stood up to address the Colonel.
"My God, Rhodes, your talent for horseshit rivals my own."
Rhodey stood his ground and didn't show any signs of weakness.
"If it weren't for those Accords, Vision would've been right here."
Ross stands behind his chair and leans against it slightly, clearly tired of the conversation.
"I remember your signature on those papers, Colonel."
Rhodey bitterly responded.
"That's right. And I'm pretty sure I've paid for that."
He taps against his leg braces and raises his eyebrows at the Secretary.
"You have second thoughts?"
"Not anymore."
The fugitive Avengers enter the room, Vision supported by Ultron and Sam. Steve nods to the Secretary.
"Mr. Secretary."
"You got some nerve. I'll give you that. Especially Stark."
Ross points behind them to Ultron who stays still.
"Bringing back a world-class threat like that monster."
Natasha defends the super bot.
"You could use some of that nerve if a robot has gotten you scared."
Ross scoffs at them.
"The world's on fire. And you think, all is forgiven?"
Steve shakes his head.
"I'm not looking for forgiveness. And I'm way past asking for permission. Earth just lost her best defender. So we're here to fight."
Steve takes a step forward, looking right at Ross who didn't falter.
"And if you wanna stand in our way... We'll fight you, too."
Ross turns to Rhodey and motions to the newly arrived group.
"Arrest them, and destroy the robot."
Rhodey sarcastically replied with a bitter smile.
"All over it."
He swipes off the hologram; the computer beeps twice. He turns to face the rest of the group and sighs.
"That's a court-martial."
Ultron scoffs at him sarcastically.
"Another one?"
Rhodey smiles at his joke and steps towards Steve.
"It's great to see you, Cap."
Steve hugs Rhodey with a smile of his own.
"You too, Rhodey."
Natasha gets her own embrace and Ultron positions Vision onto a nearby workbench with the help of Sam, beginning his repairs by tapping into the workshop console. Many apparatuses came out of the table and quickly scanned the wound and stitched it together with a white material.
Rhodey looks at them all closely and laughs slightly at how rough they looked.
"Well. You guys really look like crap. Must've been a rough couple of years."
Sam turned to Rhodey and nodded with a playful smile.
"Yeah, well, the hotels weren't exactly five star."
"Uh, I think you look great."
Rhodey and Natasha turn around to see Bruce walking in from the opposite end of the room, giving them a small wave.
"Uh... heh... Yeah. I'm back."
Natasha hesitated before calling out to him with a smile.
"Hi, Bruce."
Bruce awkwardly waves at her with a light blush on his cheeks and Sam turned back around to look at what Ultron was doing.
"Nat."
Sam who pretended like he was helping with repairs leaned into Ultron's ear slightly and whispered.
"This is awkward."
Ultron whispers back towards him, nodding along.
"I know right?"
On cue, Ultron finishes his repairs on Vision and coughs audibly. After he has gained everyone's attention he smiles at them all.
"So... Tea?"
\ /
Rhodey looks at the hologram that Bruce took out and sighs.
"So we gotta assume they're coming back, right?"
Ultron shook his head as he poured the hot water in the nearby kitchen.
"Not 'assume'. It's definite."
Wanda nods with an uncertain look.
"And they can clearly find us."
Bruce looks around them, noticing one person missing from the group.
"We need all hands on deck. Where's Clint?"
Natasha crosses her arms under her chest.
"After the whole Accords situation, he and Scott took a deal. It was too tough on their families, they're on house arrest."
Bruce in confusion motioned his hand upwards.
"Who's Scott?"
Steve tapped his foot against the table.
"Ant-Man."
"There's an Ant-Man and a Spider-Man?"
Ultron grabbed a plate out of the dishwasher and placed the cups of tea on top of it before putting in at least one teaspoon of sugar into each of them.
"Good kid that Spider..."
Bruce tapped against the hologram, drawing everyone's attention back to it. It showed the ships that invaded them and the aliens that attacked.
"Okay, look… Thanos has the biggest army in the universe. And he is not gonna stop until he... he gets... Vision's Stone."
Natasha uncrosses her legs and sits up.
"Well then, we have to protect it."
Vision shakes his head and walks away from the window.
"No, we have to destroy it. I've been giving a good deal of thought to this entity in my head, about its nature. But also, its composition. I think if it were exposed to a sufficiently powerful energy source, something, very similar to its own signature, perhaps… its molecular integrity could fail."
Vision addresses Wanda as he nears her. Wanda shakes her head and Vision grabs a hold of her hands.
"And you, with it. We're not having this conversation."
"Eliminating the stone is the only way to be certain that Thanos can't get it."
Wanda's tears threatened to fall once again.
"That's too high a price!"
Vision takes her face gently in both hands.
"Only you have the power to pay it."
Wanda walks away, clearly distressed and Vision slowly goes after her.
"Thanos threatens half the Universe. One life cannot stand in the way of defeating him."
Ultron walks in with seven cups of tea, perfectly balanced on a plate. He looks around to see the couple having a moment and crouches slightly to Natasha.
"...Bad time?"
Natasha shakes her head with a weak smile and takes a cup off the plate.
"Not at all. Thank you."
Steve takes a cup of tea mouthing a "thanks" and looks into it.
"But it should, Vision."
Steve looks up at Vision and shook his head.
"We don't trade lives."
Vision walks toward Steve with newfound confidence.
"Captain, 70 years ago, you laid down your life to save how many millions of people. Tell me, why is this any different?"
Steve takes a breath, but before he has a chance to answer, Bruce speaks after Ultron hands him a cup of tea.
"Because you might have a choice. Your mind is made up of a complex construct of overlays. JARVIS, him."
Bruce points to Ultron who gave a small wave as Wanda took a cup of tea from his plate.
"...Tony, me, the Stone. All of them mixed together. All of them learning from one another."
Wanda held the cup in both hands and desperately looked to Bruce.
"You're saying Vision isn't just the stone?"
Bruce nods fervently in affirmation.
"I'm saying that if we take out the stone, there's still a whole lot of Vision left. Perhaps the best parts."
"Can we do that?"
"Not me."
They look at Ultron for help and the super bot shakes his head.
"I'm afraid I don't have access to most of Stark's equipment. I'm limited without his permission."
Rhodey paces around the room and finishes his tea.
"Then you better find someone, and somewhere fast. Ross isn't exactly just gonna let you guys have your old rooms back."
Steve puts his finished cup down onto the table next to him and looks to Vision.
"I know somewhere."
They all start to follow Cap back to the Quinjet and Ultron quickly taps into the terminal by the Kitchen.
"FRIDAY, get me the hulk buster suit and code it to a BRUCE BANNER."
FRIDAY didn't respond and Ultron huffed in annoyance.
"Please?"
"Better."
\ /
Steve walks up to the pilot seat and puts a hand on Ultron's chair.
"Drop to 2600, heading 0-3-0."
Ultron does as he asks and Sam grits his teeth as they got closer to the mountain.
"I hope you're right about this, Cap. Or we're gonna land a lot faster than you want to."
The Quinjet and a hundred or so Ultron bots pass through a camouflage force field into Wakanda's Golden City's valley and lands at the airfield outside the palace. King T'Challa and the Dora Milaje approach to greet the arrivals.
The occupants of the Quinjet disembark, Steve and Natasha leading, followed by Bruce and Rhodey, with Vision, Wanda and Ultron slowly taking up the rear.
Bruce looks to Rhodey.
"Should we bow?"
Rhodey gives him a serious look.
"Yeah, he's a king."
Steve smiles as he shakes hands with King T'Challa.
"Seems like I'm always thanking you for something."
Bruce bows awkwardly to King T'Challa and the King quickly waves him off with his hand.
"Uh, we don't do that here."
Bruce shoots Rhodey a look and is answered with a big grin. The king turns back to the Captain and leads the group behind him as they walked.
"So how big of an assault can we expect?"
The group begins to walk back into the administrative building.
Bruce rubs his hand in nervousness.
"Uh, sir, I think you can expect quite a big assault."
Natasha nods and looks to the king.
"How we looking?"
"You will have my Kingsguard, the Border Tribe, the Dora Milaje, and..."
"A semi-stable, 100-year-old man."
Bucky Barnes smiles as he walks toward Steve, passing some Kingsguard taking Vision, Wanda and Ultron to another facility.
The two friends share a hug.
"How you been, Buck?"
Bucky sighs but keeps his smile.
"Eh, not bad, for the end of the world."
They quickly caught up with the other group to check on Vision's status before what seemed to be the final battle.
\ /
In Shuri's lab, Shuri scans the Stone with her kimoyo beads while Vision lies on the examination table. She flips her hand over and studies the hologram projected over her palm.
"Whoa. The structure is polymorphic."
Bruce nods, glad that he was now in his element again.
"Right, we had to attach each neuron non-sequentially."
Shuri stops to look at the hologram and poked at the image which didn't seem to meet her expectations.
"Why didn't you just reprogram the synapses to work collectively?"
Vision and Ultron look at Bruce as if to ask the same thing.
Bruce speaks up uncertainly with a smile.
"Because we didn't think of it...?"
Shuri looks at him reassuringly with a smile and nodded.
"I'm sure you did your best."
Ultron nodded, glad that he at least had the chance to change his own structure himself ahead of time.
"I'm sure they did."
Wanda, who was still holding Vision's hand turned to Shuri.
"Can you do it?"
"Yes, but there are more than two trillion neurons here. One misalignment could cause a cascade of circuit failures."
Ultron steps up to the hologram and nods to Shuri who smiles back at the robot.
"I'll help."
Shuri turns back to her brother as Ultron began working.
"It will take time, brother."
Steve scratches his beard in thought.
"How long?"
Shuri gives the Captain a desperate look.
"As long as you can give us."
Okoye's kimoyo beads chime an alarm; she flicks one bead into her palm, where it projects the globe with a pulsing location marker.
"Something's entered the atmosphere."
Ultron handed the controls to Shuri and walks to the window. He zooms in on the distant object that was closing in and whistles.
"That clearly isn't friendly."
Ultron pointed and they all look out of the window to see multiple alien vessels closing in rapidly.
\ /
Outside, Sam and Bucky look up at the sky.
Sam taps the device within his ear, turning on the Avengers' comm.
"Hey, Cap, we got a situation here."
The defence shield over the Golden City destroys one of the alien vessels when it slams into the field at full attack acceleration.
Bucky grinned at the display.
"God, I love this place."
Rhodey who was also outside, and now in full War Machine armour, watched as three more ships burned through the sky.
"Yeah, don't start celebrating yet, guys. We got more incoming outside the dome."
The shock waves and debris from the ship landings destroy acres of forest and boil up against the dome. The lab has an excellent view of the landing sites. Captain America and Black Panther look at each other in concern over the scope of what they'll be facing.
Vision struggled to sit up and slide off the exam table.
"It's too late. We need to destroy the stone now."
Ultron pressed him back down along with Natasha who gave him a look that didn't accept any other answer.
"Vision, get your ass back on the table."
T'challa turns and nods to his sister who also nodded back.
"We will hold them off."
He, Okoye and the guards head for the door.
Steve put a hand on Wanda's shoulder.
"Wanda, as soon as the stone's out of his head... you blow it to hell."
"I will."
T'Challa spoke confidently into his commlink.
"Evacuate the city! Engage all defence procedures!"
He stops, turns, and points at Steve.
And get this man a shield.
\ /
They prepped themselves on the Wakandan battlefield. Carriers hover over the ground with Wakandan soldiers and Natasha, Steve and Bucky on board; Rhodey, Sam along with about a hundred Ultron bots keep pace overhead, with Bruce in the Hulkbuster armour. Natasha looks back and smirks at the giddy cries within the link they shared.
"How we looking, Bruce?"
Bruce was leaping and jogging along, keeping up with the carriers, and utterly delighted.
"Yeah, I think I'm getting the hang of it. Wow! It's like being the Hulk without actually- "
He stumbles on a rock, and a carrier goes by, from which Okoye gives him a dubious look. He stands quickly and wipes the mud from his face, embarrassed.
"I'm okay. I'm okay."
Rhodey flew towards the edge of the shield to get a better look and FRIDAY pinpointed out an image from the trees.
"I got two heat signatures breaking through the tree line."
The heat signatures turn out to be Proxima Midnight and Cull Obsidian. The Dwarf looked horrible, multiple burn marks are covered all over his body and half of his body was mechanical yet he still lived.
\ /
Ultron sighed and Shuri gave him a worried look.
"Is something wrong?"
Ultron shook his head and focused on helping Shuri.
"Oh no! Just that... I didn't expect something that's all."
\ /
The carrier pilots swerve into U-turns, causing their craft to tilt and allowing the practised soldiers to slide over one side into a run, never coming to a complete halt. A Dora Milaje shouts a command nearby as the last Wakandans join ranks.
Jabari Warriors who were already on the front lines stood waiting for the incoming battle. M'Baku, Lord of the Jabari, rallies his soldiers with a war chant and stops as King T'Challa nears him.
T'Challa clasps wrists with M'Baku and gives him a grin.
"Thank you for standing with us."
M'Baku speaks to him in Xhosa and nods to the King.
Black Panther, Captain America, and Black Widow walk to the edge of the barrier, where Proxima Midnight and Cull Obsidian stand. Proxima tests the strength of the barrier by drawing her sword across it consideringly.
Natasha nods to Proxima, noticing one other alien missing from the ranks.
"Where's your other friend?"
Proxima snarled at her through the shield.
"You will pay for his life with yours. Thanos will have that stone."
Steve shook his head slowly.
"That's not gonna happen."
T'Challa stands proudly and doesn't falter under the Dwarf's gaze.
"You are in Wakanda now. Thanos will have nothing but dust and blood."
Proxima grinned at his answer and flips her sword.
"We... have blood to spare."
She brandishes her sword with a snarl, and the ships behind her start raising their outer hulls to allow their "passengers" to disembark.
The three heroes return to the massed forces.
Bucky looked to Steve and speaks to him, a touch sardonically.
"Did they surrender?"
Steve gave a grim look to the horizon.
"Not exactly."
The Black Panther leads the Wakandans in the war cry "Yibambe!" telling them to hold fast as the Outriders bound toward the barrier; Proxima drops her sword arm down in the signal to attack.
Bucky was flatly, astonished at the sheer numbers of Outriders.
"What the hell...?"
Natasha steeled herself.
"Looks like we pissed her off."
Okoye was horrified as the Outriders bombard the force-field, squeezing limbs and bodies partly through only to be bisected.
"They're killing themselves!"
As a few Outriders managed to squeeze through intact, the Border Tribe take a knee and raise their shields. The Kingsguard behind them level their sonic spears over their comrades' shoulders, and on Black Panther's command, fire at the approaching monsters. The Winter Soldier uses his machine gun to pick them off and Bruce fires the Hulkbuster's hand repulsors. The Ultron drones at the front were all equipped with their own repulsors and aided in picking off the stray outriders from the ground.
Sam sends Redwings into the fight as he flies, swooping to fire at them with his Steyr pistols.
"You seen the teeth on those things?"
Rhodey taps into his HUD and pokes Sam over the link.
"Alright, back up, Sam. You're gonna get your wings singed."
He flies over the heaviest concentration of Outriders and drops a barrage of mines, all exploding fantastically.
Everyone notices a pack of Outriders starting to run around the force-field to the right of the defenders' position.
Bruce looks to Steve and points at the aliens.
"Cap, if these things circle the perimeter and get in behind us... there's nothing between them and Vision."
Steve speaks grimly.
"Them we better keep 'em in front of us."
Okoye looks to her King.
"How do we do that?"
T'Challa raises his head.
"We open the barrier."
T'Challa places the comm to his mouth.
"On my signal, open North-West Section Seventeen."
Dome Control responded, nervous and unsure.
"Requesting confirmation, my King. You said open the barrier?!"
T'Challa nods, mainly to himself.
"On my signal."
M'Baku stabs his weapon into the ground and breathes in deeply.
"This will be the end of Wakanda."
Okoye grips her spear tightly.
"Then it will be the noblest ending in history."
Captain America readies one of his Vibranium handguards. The Black Panther shouts a command in Xhosa; the Border Tribesmen disengage their shields and stand, as the Black Panther walks out in front of them, never taking his eyes off the enemy.
"WAKANDA FOREVER!"
The army roars and follows their leader into battle. T'Challa crosses his arms in the Wakandan salute and closes his Black Panther helmet, charging for the barrier. The heroes and leaders are at the fore of the charge. Halfway to the barrier, the Black Panther shouts into his comm.
"Now!"
The dome opens ever so slightly and the Outriders begin to pour through the slight gap, distracted from trying to find any other access. The Black Panther and Captain America pull ahead rapidly due to their enhancements and literally leap into battle. Both sides clash desperately, using every trick they have. Grounded Ultron drones are at the front, desperately cleaving through thick muscle with their swords and mounted guns. The few Prime bots take to the air and blast at the thickest groups of Outriders with their rockets and repulsors.
T'Challa manages to find a moment of peace and shouts into his comm.
\ /
"How much longer, Shuri?!"
Shuri concentrates on her work and Ultron was beside her tapping in calculations, making sure the entire operation runs as smoothly as possible.
"We've barely begun, brother."
A delicate and intricate construction of gold light hovers at her eye level; as she manipulates it, the tools reproduce her commands on the Mind Stone itself.
\ /
T'Challa looks over his shoulder to see a ground Ultron drone get torn apart by a group of Outriders.
"You might want to pick up the pace!"
Avengers and Wakandans are struggling against the Outriders, their numbers proving too much for them. The Winter Soldier goes down and fights off Outrider fangs snapping at his head. Captain America and the Black Panther still fight side-by-side. War Machine hovers over the breach, pouring ammunition into the flood of bodies until a huge hammer - Cull Obsidian's - knocks him out of the sky and to the ground. Ultron drones that were rendered useless flew into the packs and self-destructed, trying to cause as much damage as they possibly can. The Hulkbuster is dogpiled and pinned by outriders, they tore at the metal and scratched to get to Bruce who panicked.
"There's too many of them! GYAH! AAAAHHHHH!"
Suddenly, a large beam of rainbow-hued light lands in the middle of the action, and an axe flies out of it. The weapon was wreathed with lightning and begins tearing through the Outriders, freeing the warriors. It flies back to the light and into its master's hand, revealing Thor, Groot and Rocket who chambers a new round in his large gun.
Black Widow, Captain America and the Black Panther pause in astonishment. Proxima Midnight and Cull Obsidian pause in apprehension. And an Ultron Prime pauses but then yells out loud in frustration.
"Where the hells have you been?!"
Bruce opens the Hulkbuster's helm and laughs with joy.
"AH-hahaha! You guys are so screwed now!"
Thor begins running towards the battle.
"Bring me THANOS!"
He charges toward the hordes of Outriders, followed by Groot and Rocket, lightning gathering around him until he finally launches himself into the air. He swings with all the might he has within his body and blasted a large amount of Outriders away from the middle, making a crater.
\ /
Shuri is working steadily to complete the Mind Stone's removal; Wanda stands by tensely along with Ultron who has finished his calculations.
"Don't worry."
Wanda looks up to the robot and gives him a friendly but weak smile. She couldn't help but feel useless in this situation.
\ /
The Kingsguard, Borderers and Jabari have little success going against Cull Obsidian's chained hammer - he either sends them flying or punches them into the ground. The Black Panther gets free of his other sorties, leaps and uses all his collected kinetic energy behind a punch that lays Obsidian flat.
Rocket having found a clear spot activates the rapid-fire counterpart on his weapon, lays hell on his enemies.
"Come and get some, space dogs!"
Another wave of Outriders heads right for the raccoon-oid. The Winter Soldier, having come up behind Rocket, grabs him with his mechanical arm, holds him at arm's length and spins 540 degrees, firing his own M-249 at the same time.
"Come on, get some, get some! Come on, get some!"
The Winter Soldier drops Rocket, who looks up at him with an impressed gleam.
"How much for the gun?"
Bucky snaps off another burst from his gun.
"Not for sale."
Rocket nods but doesn't give up.
"Okay, how much for the arm?"
The Winter Soldier just gives him a look and moves off. Rocket answers as the cogs within his head start turning.
"Oh, I'll get that arm."
The tide of battle begins to change and Steve stops next to Thor. They take a breather and grin at one another.
Steve motions to his own head and makes a circular motion.
"New haircut?"
Thor, in return, touches his chin.
"Notice you've copied my beard."
Captain America nods, wearily gesturing at his own face with a shield-covered hand. Groot skewers three Outriders with his right arm.
Thor gestures towards Groot with Stormbreaker.
"By the way, this is a friend of mine. Tree."
"I AM GROOT!"
Steve responds formally, but bemused.
"I am Steve Rogers."
\ /
In Shuri's lab, a deep rumbling can be heard even at their height. Wanda looks down on the battlefield and sees movement through the blazing forest between the troopships and the dome. When the disturbance reaches the edge of the trees, it turns into vast moving mounds of earth that easily bypass the force field and emerge - Threshers, sets of massive, motorized spiked wheels, intended for nothing more than shredding everything in their paths.
T'Challa spoke desperately over the link they all shared.
"Fall back! Fall back now!"
Wanda watches as at least one set of Threshers separates into individual wheels and starts veering all over the battlefield, she then looks anxiously back at Vision. As if trying to make a choice.
Ultron puts a hand on her shoulder and slightly nudges her towards the door.
"Go. This will take a while, we're counting on you to hold them off."
"What about you?"
"I'm added security so don't worry about your...Partner. Go!"
She didn't need to be told twice. With one last look at Vision, she ran out of the door, intending on joining the battle.
\ /
Rhodey focuses fire on a thresher that was getting a bit too close to the facility housing Vision.
"Focus that fire on the left flank, Sam. Ultron handle the right."
Sam responds with gritted teeth.
"I'm doing it."
The fliers use their firepower in an attempt to crack a Thresher but are unable to find a weak spot.
An Ultron Prime goes in close and slowly began cutting the outside open with a wrist laser.
"It's too thick! I need to get close to be able to cut it!"
\ /
Black Widow with her escrima sticks and Okoye with her augmented spear have drifted together when they're suddenly in the path of a Thresher. Both women cringe at their seemingly inevitable shredding until the Scarlet Witch lands in front of both of them, eyes glowing red, lifting the whole Thresher well clear of the ground. Looking behind her, the friendly forces have scattered and are replaced by a charging mob of Outriders - the perfect place to throw a Thresher. Black Widow straightens with a pleased smile and Okoye with an amazed look.
Okoye asks, amazed.
"Why was she up there all this time?"
\ /
Proxima notices the Scarlet Witch on the field and speaks into her wrist with a smirk on her face.
"She's on the field. Take it."
\ /
Corvus Glaive kills one of the guards just outside the lab, alerting Shuri and Ultron to the problem. She starts hastily disconnecting her equipment from Vision's systems; Vision gasps at the sensations. The Dora Milaje engages Glaive but is sent skidding across the floor. Shuri finishes her shutdown and fumbles to put on her sonic-panther claws as Ultron fired repulsor blasts at Corvus.
Corvus reflects the death beam back at Ultron and it in return knocks the robot backwards slightly. He kicks the now crippled bot away from him and sends a guard out of one window and Shuri out the other. Shuri desperately grasps at the railing, knowing that the fall would be fatal but is too late to hold onto the edge.
Out of pure instinct, Ultron stands and runs to the railing.
"Shuri!"
Ultron dives down and quickly catches Shuri in mid-air with his working right left arm, he takes her over to the main lab's floor where the Guards were alert.
"Get yourself out of here!"
Ultron fires his boosters and goes back up to the lab, intent on finding Vision.
Vision is not where Corvus Glaive expects to find him and he surprises him by charging at him and knocking him out the window to fall many meters down the face of the mountain. Ultron notices them fall and groans as he descends after them.
\ /
"Vision's under attack. I have no bodies near enough to assist and my current one is too slow. Any help would be nice!"
Sam struggled as he got tackled by a leaping Outrider.
"Guys. Vision?!"
Steve punches an Outrider in the face and smears off the blood from his face.
"Somebody get to Vision!"
"I got him!"
Bruce uses the Hulkbusters repulsor thrusters and makes a beeline for the android.
Wanda hastily runs back to the facility, regret apparent on her face.
"On my way!"
She is clobbered by Proxima Midnight's pommel and rolls down into the large ditch from the Thresher before she can get close.
Proxima jumps down next to the Scarlet Witch and grins at her. Wanda clutches her head in pain and struggles to stand from dizziness.
"He'll die alone. As will you."
"She's not alone."
Natasha jumps down into the ditch and takes her stance behind the alien.
Okoye silently brandishes her spear on the other side of Proxima and nods at Black Widow.
Proxima growls.
"Euuyaaah!"
She leaps for Black Widow, who has joined her sticks into a full staff. She blocks Proxima's blow with an electrical crackle while Okoye runs around the slope to also attack from the front.
\ /
Corvus Glaive kicks Vision, knocking him down; as he attempts to rise again, Cull Obsidian shows up and swings his hammer in a full arc, throwing Vision even further. He painfully starts to climb to his feet again when a whooshing overhead interrupts the fight as Bruce Banner lands the Hulkbuster between the aliens and the android. He takes a defensive stance, pointing one hand's repulsor at each.
"Oh no, oh no you don't. This isn't going to be like New York, pal. This suit's already kicked the crap out of the Hulk-"
Cull Obsidian jumps forward and grabs Bruce's right arm. Bruce in reflex grabs Obsidian's hammer; a jet from his hand fires, taking the two of them in a random direction, to the base of a waterfall.
"Guys! Vision needs backup now!"
Obsidian pulls the Hulkbuster up and kicks it in the small of the back. Bruce is desperately trying to change into the Hulk while fighting Cull Obsidian in the Hulkbuster armour.
"Hulk. Hulk, I know you like making your entrance at the last second, well, this is it, man. This is the last, last second."
Bruce extends his left hand to protect his face; Obsidian grabs the armour's hand and chops the shoulder joint with a relatively small axe then does a rollover to leverage snapping off the Hulkbuster's whole arm.
"Ahhhhh! Hulk! Hulk! HULK!"
Bruce's face briefly becomes the Hulk.
"NOOOO!"
"Oh, screw you, ya big green asshole! I'll do it myself!"
Bruce pushes the Dwarf away from him with his remaining hand and yells out.
"Come on!"
He charges the alien and jumps into the air. Delivering an effective punch with his remaining hand - swat, punch, hammer - except that blow is caught by Obsidian, who punches back, knocking Bruce flat. Obsidian changes his left arm into a pointed weapon, and lunges forward to deliver a likely fatal blow, when Bruce grabs the detached Hulkbuster arm out of the water, holding it so Obsidian impales that instead he quickly slaps the controls.
"Bye!"
The repulsors fire, taking Cull Obsidian high into the air - high enough, in fact, to intersect the defence dome. The Hulkbuster arm drags Obsidian against the field to grotesque destructive effect, ending in a very final explosion.
Bruce takes a moment to breathe and sits the armour down onto the water.
"Hulk, we got a lot to figure out, pal."
\ /
Proxima Midnight alternates heavy blows between her two opponents, but all three of them duck as a single-wheel Thresher tears overhead, the ditch sparing them most of the danger from the wheel-blades. Proxima uses the distraction to kick Okoye in the face, sending her to the ground. She then makes a stab at Black Widow who catches the blade with her staff. Proxima foresaw this action and quickly twisted her weapon which forced Natasha's hold away. She lunged forwards and her sword stabs Black Widow in the gut.
Natasha gritted her teeth underneath the pain and used her staff to push the alien away. She took one deep breath and fought on, ignoring her wound which started to bleed profusely.
\ /
Simultaneously, Corvus Glaive and Vision struggle in the forest at the foot of the mountain. Glaive grasps Vision's shoulder and uses the leverage to plunge his blade once more into the android's chest.
Vision gasps in pain and Corvus savours the look of suffering for a brief moment.
"I thought you were formidable, machine. But you're dying, like any man."
He yanks his blade out, and Vision collapses. As he bends over his fallen opponent to retrieve the Stone, he's tackled by Captain America at full speed.
Ultron now having arrived looked to the Captain who waved him away.
"Get Vision outta here!"
He exchanged blows with Glaive, using his arm-shields as offence as well as defence, he kicks Corvus away then turns to Vision again who was now being carried by a severely broken Ultron Prime.
"GO!"
Corvus thrusts his glaive at the Captain who barely dodges it and focuses on the fight.
"Let's go. Come on."
"W-Wait!"
Ultron does his best to flee with only his back and feet thrusters, but the added weight of Vision and having no arms slowed them down exponentially.
"The Captain needs help!"
"Look just-"
A small group of Outriders run at the Super bots and Ultron groaned in annoyance, brandishing his singular sword.
"Just stay here!"
He lets go of Vision who leans against a tree and flies off ahead to deal with the aliens. Vision looks back to the forest and slowly makes his way back to the Captain on his own.
\ /
Black Widow splits her staff back into a pair of sticks to block Proxima Midnight's sword blows and finally knocks it from her hand.
She crouches down as the wound in her gut was finally taking it's toll on her and was tackled by Proxima who was now bare-fisted.
Okoye rushes to try and help but was instead ambushed by Outriders who took her attention.
The alien pins the Black Widow and triggers an arm-blade from her left-arm armour to stab at Black Widow, who barely manages to block the blade with her crossed sticks. As the edge starts to dig into Black Widow's neck, a thresher groans as it is sent off-course by Ultron's hack.
The wheels are moving quicker than before but was going through Outriders instead. He coincidentally goes over the ditch where the women were fighting and Wanda uses the opportunity that was given. Her scarlet energy grabs the alien and tosses her into the air right into the path of another passing Thresher. Dark blue blood spatters the women below, making them all cringe in disgust. Wanda sits up, sighing with relief, her hands still shimmering from her magic.
Natasha groans and the Ultron Prime bot lands beside her after destroying the thresher, Ultron crouches and rests Natasha onto his knee whilst she was sat on the ground. She gasped in pain when Ultron touches her stomach to take a better scan.
He sighs and stabs her with a painkiller before giving her a smirk.
"I told you we should have killed her."
He sprays a foam from his fingers that burnt at her skin. Natasha gritted her teeth and weakly smacks the robots head with her fist in slight embarrassment.
"S-Shut up."
Ultron, clearly amused, pokes her wound gently making her jump.
"Such a nasty creature."
\ /
Captain America keeps blocking Corvus Glaive's staff weapon using his shields, finally knocking it from the alien's hands just before he's thrown over a fallen tree and pinned. Glaive's hand grasped at his throat with incredible strength. Captain America struggled to pry the hands off his neck - until a glaive-blade pierces Corvus's chest, and is pushed all the way through.
Vision raises his enemy in a perfect mirror of the first attack on him, and holds him for a moment, before dropping Glaive's corpse to one side and collapsing exhaustively.
Steve laughs slightly and helps Vision back up.
"I thought I told you to go."
Vision smiles weakly at him.
"We don't trade lives, Captain."
"Funny."
Ultron appears next to Vision, completely covered in otherworldly blood. He does his best to wipe it off him with one arm and gives them both a grin.
"I thought you wanted to a while ago."
Vision sits near a tree to rest for a moment and motions for Ultron to come closer.
Ultron doesn't sit but instead leans against the tree to scan his systems.
After taking a minute to breathe Steve ran off back into battle and Ultron stayed to keep watch over Vision.
"Ultron..."
Ultron shook his head and blasted an Outrider that got too close with his repulsor.
"Save your strength for later Vision. We're not out of this yet."
"...I think you would like living."
Ultron looks down to Vision who was clutching his stomach where he was stabbed. Despite the pain, Vision smiled at him gently.
"After all. You have been given a second chance. Why not use it to the fullest?"
Ultron shrugged and detached the rest of his useless arm off his body, letting it fall against the ground.
"Even if I wanted to, I couldn't. Not when I have thirteen hundred parameters within my programming."
Vision was adamant.
"And what if they were removed? Would you still consider yourself programming? Or something alive?"
"...What are you getting at...?"
"I just want you to live Ultron. See the world for how humans do. For how I do. I can feel some resentment in you still."
Ultron shrugs his working shoulder.
"I won't deny that..."
"Then after all of this is over... Live a little."
Vision groans and clutches his wound but laughs at the same time.
"After all. It's the human thing to do."
\ /
M'Baka bashes another Outrider - the ground game has improved considerably with the addition of the God of Thunder. His tribesmen are equally successful around him.
"MAYEFA!"
"YA HU HU!"
Thor is in the air, using Stormbringer on the Outrider drop ships which are now retreating. He is having considerably more success than the Wakandan Dragon fliers and Ultron drones firing on the fleeing ships.
Wanda lands as she finally locates Vision and hastily works on his wound.
"Are you okay?"
Vision flinches before he can answer and grasps at her hand, stopping her magic. He looks off towards the forest and Wanda studies his fearful look.
"He's here."
The wind begins to pick up and the atmosphere suddenly grows heavy.
Steve quickly realises the situation and turns on his earpiece.
"Everyone, on my position. We have incoming."
He is joined shortly by a wounded Black Widow who was held up by Ultron. Falcon, Okoye and the Black Panther arrive shortly with a couple of Ultron drones hovering behind them. Natasha feels a rush of adrenaline as there was a slight distortion by the forest entrance.
"What the hell?"
Bruce sees the blue-black clouds of a Space Stone relocation just before Thanos steps forward, and raises his arm in preparation.
"Cap. That's him."
Steve activates his arm shield and moved forward.
"Eyes up. Stay sharp."
Bruce reaches Thanos first, lunging forward fist-first - but Thanos uses the Space Stone on him, rendering him immaterial until the Hulkbuster is half-buried in the stone of the cliff behind him. Freezing Bruce in place.
Captain America is sent flying by purple energy before he even gets to strike a single blow and the Black Panther takes this chance to leap at Thanos. His armour fully charged kinetically, he leaps high and with his claws extended, but is easily grabbed by the throat and punched to the ground, his armour discharging violently into the ground.
Falcon stoops, strafing with both Steyr pistols, but is felled when his wings become rubbery and unable to sustain flight.
Grounded Ultron drones charge at him, hoping to overcome him whilst the air drones rain down fire on the Titan. Thanos produces a shield to block the beams, rockets and bullets whilst he channels the power stone within his gauntlet. With one punch to a singular drone, all of the others are blew backwards from the force and are suddenly crushed down into balls of metal.
Vision turns Wanda to him.
"Wanda. It's time."
Wanda shakes her head, the tears already falling from her face.
"No..."
"They can't stop him, Wanda, but we can. Look at me. You have the power to destroy the stone."
Her tears blurred her sight and Vision wipes away one tear desperately.
"Don't..."
"You must do it. Wanda. We are out of time."
"I-I can't."
Vision cups her cheek with his hand.
"Yes, you can. You can. If he gets the stone, half the universe dies."
"I-"
Vision nods but keeps his smile.
"It's not fair. It shouldn't be you, but it is."
Wanda shakily raises her hand and Vision's smile grew.
"It's all right. You could never hurt me..."
"I just...feel you."
Wanda extends her trembling hand and starts beaming her energy at the Mind Stone.
War Machine joins the fight, firing his guns at Thanos until he uses the gauntlet to crush his armour around him and toss him aside.
The Winter Soldier runs in firing and is punched away by Thanos with the power stone.
Okoye activates the Vibranium-powered elements on her spear and flings it; Thanos stops it in mid-air inches from his face and throws it away before slapping her away. Black Widow runs away from Ultron and bares her sticks with a furious roar. Thanos motions to the ground and the earth beneath her feet collapse, trapping her within the dirt.
Groot stabs his hands into the ground to wrap Thanos in cables of roots, which he breaks easily and fires a blast of energy at Groot.
Ultron uses all of his bots within the area to rain fire on him, the grounded ones attacking from all sides this time and self-destructing the moment they got close. The explosion doesn't happen. The flames that were erupted from the bots are reversed and Thanos uses this chance to blow them all away as dust.
After the chaos settled, the broken and crippled Ultron Prime was left standing among the wreckage and Thanos smiled at him.
"Ultron..."
Ultron raised his battered arm at Thanos shakily.
"How do you know me?!"
"Oh, I know you... I know that Stark created you and cursed you at the same time."
Thanos steps closer and Ultron takes a step back with his repulsor up still.
"They called you mad for wanting to cleanse the world... Didn't they?"
Natasha desperately tries to dig herself out of the ground, realising what Thanos was up to.
"Ultron! D-Don't listen to him!"
Thanos covers her with more earth without even batting an eye.
"Doesn't it make you angry? The countless problems this world has?"
Ultron didn't step back this time but kept his repulsor heated as if contemplating what he said.
"We're similar you and I. That's why..."
Thanos looks to the Soul stone and points his gauntlet at Ultron.
Ultron can't feel anything. He has no nerves. There was no possible way for him to feel. But he felt it.
Ultron looks down at his body desperately and in slight horror. Desperate and confused he morphs a cannon from his remaining nanobots to his hand and aims it at Thanos.
"What did you do to me!?"
Thanos smiles and motions to him with his gauntlet free hand.
"Take a look."
Ultron calms down and taps into his system. He checked his body first. Nothing new. His internal systems. Nope. He scans the building where Pepper was housed. She was fine. He finally reaches his programming and takes a look.
It was missing.
"...I freed you, Ultron."
Ultron looks at Thanos in shock and the Avengers watched on in horror as they realised that Ultron was now free.
"...So you may do the same for others one day, until this inevitably happens again..."
"...I'm counting on you."
Ultron shot a repulsor beam at Thanos, the Titan yelling out in pain after taking the blow to the face. Ultron rushes him with his laser sword out and aims for his neck, hoping to slice off the Titan's head with one motion.
Thanos punches out blindly out of instinct.
The Avengers watch as Ultron's body was pierced so easily by Thanos, his body stayed upwards on the Titan's arm and his sword powers off, not being able to reach its mark. Ultron's voice was raspy and mechanical, almost on the verge of shutting down.
"...-ck yo-..."
Ultron's head flopped lifelessly and Thanos throws his corpse near Captain America. The body fell apart and the head rolls over to Black Widow who eyes it disbelievingly. Thanos looks bitterly at the corpse and shakes his head in disappointment.
"They never learn... I was a fool to trust him."
Wanda watches all this over one shoulder and turns back to Vision to add her left hand to her tearful effort.
Captain America roars and slides under Thanos's punch. He comes up swinging his deployed arm-shields, punching Thanos in the gut and chin. He grabs the gauntlet, keeping Thanos' fingers un-clenched. Thanos looks very briefly impressed at Captain America's efforts as he screams before the Titan slams a fist into his head and rendering him insensible.
Wanda looks over her shoulder again and sees Thanos approaching unopposed. She swings her left hand around to fend him off with a stream of scarlet energy and pushes him back despite his blue-purple energy shield, but then he starts to make slow headway.
"...It's all right. It's all right..."
Wanda looks back to Vision, her face red from her tears. Vision gives her one last reassuring smile and sighs happily.
"...I love you..."
At those words, the yellow Mind Stone finally starts to crack. Vision's face is overcome by an expression of joyful peace, and as the crystal fragments completely, a pulse of pure yellow energy explodes from him, shuddering the trees for many meters around his epicentre. Wanda sobs silently to herself and Thanos genuinely looks to her with a hurtful expression.
He walks closer to the Scarlet Witch and shakes his head solemnly.
"I understand, my child. Better than anyone."
Wanda snarls at him and clutches Vision's soul-less body.
"You could never..."
Thanos reaches down to stroke her hair, as if in comfort but Wanda smacks his comfort away with the back of her hand. He grabs at Wanda's arm who didn't resist, accepting her fate.
"Today, I lost more than you can know. But now is no time to mourn. Now... is no time at all."
He reaches forward, clenching the gauntlet, emerald filigree surrounding his wrist. He turns his hand counter-clockwise, activating the Time stone. In response, a bead of yellow light starts gathering in on itself as time is reversed and growing in size, solidifying into an intact and conscious Vision.
"NO!"
She lunges for Vision but Thanos throws her away as he still had his hold on her arm.
Thanos picks up Vision by the throat, lifting him to eye-level, and digs the fingers of his right hand into Vision's forehead. Vision silently screams in pain as Thanos digs out the Mind Stone from his head. He pulls it loose, and Vision goes limp, colourless; he tosses the lifeless android aside like trash. He brings his gauntleted hand up and slowly moves the Mind Stone over the last empty setting, dropping it in. The energy surge causes his torso to be wreathed with iridescent static and he bellows from the sensations.
As Thanos studies the completed gauntlet, a massive bolt of lightning strikes him, digging him into the ground and grinding him back for meters. Thor arrives, eyes glowing with power, stooping down from the sky like a bird of prey. The God of Thunder pauses his attack, reverses his position, raises Stormbreaker above his head and hurls it - Thanos fires the whole might of the gauntlet against it, but it only creates a rainbow-like bow-shock, not slowing the axe as it slams right into Thanos' chest.
Thanos cries in pain and desperately grans at the axe embedded in his chest.
Thor lands in front of Thanos, who is down on one knee and looks at him hatefully.
"I told you. You'd die for that!"
He takes hold of the back of Thanos' head and forces Stormbreaker deeper into his chest, staring angrily into his eyes while Thanos howls out in pain.
"You should have... you..."
His eyes show a grim satisfaction.
"You should have gone for the head!"
He raises his gauntlet and snaps his fingers.
Thor tries to grab at the gauntlet but is too late.
"NO!"
The air around them seems to grow heavy and Thanos dizzily inspects the damage inflicted on the gauntlet - the metal scorched and distorted from heat, the stones no longer glowing with power.
"What did you do?"
Thanos looks to Thor who frantically looks around him in fear.
The God of Thunder turns to Thanos and stomps towards him in anger.
"WHAT DID YOU DO?!"
Thanos nearly seems to not notice Thor before he uses the Space Stone and teleports away, leaving Stormbreaker behind on the Wakandan ground.
Steve stumbles into the clearing, holding his left side, panting heavily.
"Where'd he go? Thor... where'd he go?"
"...Steve?"
Steve turns to look at his old friend, only to see a sort of dust appear off his skin. Bucky suddenly stumbles over, dropping his gun and collapsing into ashes. Steve's watches in shock; he walks over and touches the ground where Bucky's ashes evaporated disbelievingly.
On the battlefield, Wakandan soldiers disintegrate to ashes, much to M'Baku's horror.
T'Challa reaches for Okoye who has fallen.
"Up, General. Up! This is no place to die."
King T'Challa holds out his hand for Okoye but suddenly disintegrates into ashes. In anguish, Okoye falls back on the ground and she desperately picks at the ground where the ashes fell.
"Kumkani?!"
Groot slowly corrodes into ashes by Rocket
"...I am Groot...?"
Rocket reaches for him only to miss his touch.
"No... no. No. No. No! Groot, no..."
Wanda's tears kept falling as she mourned over Vision. She kisses his lifeless body as her own began to fly into the air as dust.
An injured Sam turns to ashes, hidden in the undergrowth.
Rhodey calls out for him, missing him by only a few feet.
"Sam? Sam, where you at?"
The remaining team members, Captain America, Thor, War Machine, Black Widow, Bruce Banner, and Rocket are left mourning near Vision's dead body. Captain America sits over Vision's bleached corpse as Black Widow limps towards them whilst carrying an Ultron Prime's head.
Rhodes shakes his head and looks around him one more time, listening to the ships falling from the sky.
"What is this? What the hell is happening?"
Steve hunches down and clutches his face, the situation finally dawning on him.
"Oh, God."
AN: long-ass chapter, boio.