Avengers: Infinity Trilogy

by Mr. Cobrah Thunderer

What if... Thanos snapped the other 50% of the universe? Black Panther, Doctor Strange, Drax, Falcon, Groot, Mantis, Scarlet Witch, Shuri, Spider-Man, Star-Lord, Wasp, and the Winter Soldier are all that's left to avenge the galaxy. In the Infinity Trilogy, the Avengers face their greatest challenge: defeating an undefeated opponent without the bedrock of the six original members.

1. Kamala & Steve (Gauntlet, Part I)

Marvel Studios Presents

"And then there came a day, unlike any other."

A Mr. Cobrah Thunderer Production

"I - that is, me and my family - we were in New York on A-Day."

Avengers: Infinity Trilogy (Part 1 of 3): "Gauntlet"

Kamala Khan briefly peeked over her flash cards to gauge her classmates' investment. Only a handful were really listening, the others were playing on their cell phones under their desks. A bored-looking girl's eyes were fixed on the clock facing the door to the classroom. Kamala gulped nervously, but pressed forward.

"Aamir (that's my older brother BTW), he remembers it a lot better than I do. I was two when it happened, so that's, uh, that's probably why. The way he describes it, it was like everything in his life led up to that day, and the rest of his life since then has never been the same. There were hints of what was to come, of course."

*Snap*

"Steve Rogers training to become Captain America in our very own Camp Lehigh, New Jersey. I think not-see, Nazi."

Two images were placed back to back of a photograph featuring a scrawny-looking man in army fatigues and the very same man a few years later garbed in gaudy red, white and blue tights punching out an actor playing Adolf Hitler onstage.

*Snap*

"A Black Panther Party meeting is attended by a member of Wakandan royalty. Who wants to tell that guy it's not a costume party?"

A picture of obscure civil rights leader Luke Charles performing the black power salute alongside members of the Black Panther party came on the screen next. Charles was wearing black spandex, a cape and a wooden panther mask.

*Snap*

"U.F.O. sightings in Missouri. I'm hooked on a feeling that there's more to this than meets the eye."

An image of a fuzzy-looking spaceship came across the whiteboard.

*Snap*

"Cold War shenanigans foiled by enemies too small to perceive with the naked eye. They didn't choose the bug life - the bug life chose them!"

A Russian soldier was being sent flying by a practically invisible opponent.

*Snap*

"A shooting star appears in the upper atmosphere that N.A.S.A. still has yet to account for decades later. Marvel at this… er… marvelous… marvel."

A bright light that greatly resembled the sun was flying through the air.

*Snap*

"Dr. Bruce Banner disappears from his alma mater, Culver University, under mysterious circumstances. Don't make him angry… you wouldn't like him when he's angry."

A screenshot of the Culver University Press circa April, 2005 featuring a staff picture of Bruce Banner on the front page, urging anyone who knew where Banner had gone to report what they knew to the authorities.

*Snap*

"Genius billionaire playboy philanthropist Tony Stark went on the news and said, 'I am Iron Man.' Because 'Titanium Man' was taken, I guess."

*Snap*

"The 2010 Stark Expo is upstaged by Hammer Industries' newest creation, War Machine and the ill-fated Hammer Drones. Because with great technology, there must also come great responsibility."

A boy wearing an Iron Man mask was having his picture taken beside a destroyed Hammer Drone alongside the real Iron Man and War Machine, pretending to be firing an arc reactor from his hand alongside them.

*Snap*

"Dr. Banner resurfaces as three people empowered by gamma radiation run loose in Harlem. This includes himself, plus two supervillains later dubbed The Abomination and The Leader. However, under everyone's noses, two agents of what we now know to be S.H.I.E.L.D. covertly stopped the latter's rampage. They might look familiar to hawk-eyed observers."

A video taken on a flip phone featuring two rescue workers lugging an unconscious body into a white van. It would have looked normal enough, bar the unconscious man having an oversized head. Plus the male rescue worker lugging a bulging quiver on his back. And also, in the video the female rescue worker pointed her fist at the person filming the encounter and fired an electrical pulse from it, causing the cameraperson to drop her phone.

*Snap*

"The world is introduced to Thor. Turns out god's not dead, he's just in New Mexico."

A camera picture with the watermark Darcy Lewis, depicting a smiling asgardian god of Thunder.

*Snap*

"This one temple in Japan seems untouched by the 2011 earthquake and Tsunami that afflicted the country. What strange tales do those walls hold?"

A cube-like structure looked practically untouched despite all the surrounding carnage around it.

*Snap*

"That's where my family enters the picture. May 4th, 2012."

The entire Khan family were standing in front of Joe's Pizza. The amateurish photography captured not only the family, but the owner berating a beleaguered-looking delivery boy.

"What you're seeing here is the last picture of me and my family on A-Day before that portal in the sky opened and aliens came out of it. We were on vacation, and had no idea we'd be a part of history. They - the aliens, that is, Thor said on a podcast once that they're called the Chitauri - they grabbed us, and forced us into a bank. They were going to kill us all. My parents and brother were praying, and I was crying my head off. We really thought that was it."

"Then our prayers were answered. A man who was considered legally dead for seventy years, a real Jersey icon, threw his mighty shield and the Chitauri just had to yield before it. Captain America saved our lives, personally. He didn't know us, and was gone almost as soon as he had arrived, but he changed each and every one of our lives just by being there."

"They all did."

*Snap*

A picture depicting Black Widow, Captain America, Hawkeye, Hulk, Iron Man and Thor enjoying shawarma in a restaurant in relative peace.

"The Avengers showed us all who we could be. What we're all capable of. At least, they did that for me. I know they've been more or less disassembled, or outsourced, or whatever it is the guy with the mustache on the TV said, but they're still out there. I know it. They always come back when we need them most. And that's-"

*Snap*

The school bell interrupted her train of thought. Everyone in Kamala's class ran out, oblivious to the personal significance of their classmate's powerpoint presentation.

"And that's why I chose A-Day as the day that changed my life." Kamala said to the room, which was empty except for her teacher, who was gazing up at Kamala sympathetically. "It's the day that made me realize…"

*Snap*

"When I grow up, I want to be one of THEM. There's usually at least six, y'know."

A photoshopped image of the current roster of the Avengers flashed on the whiteboard. Black Panther, Iron Man, Spider-Man, Vision, and War Machine were all posing dramatically alongside a photoshopped image of Kamala's head on Black Widow's body.

"Did I do a good job, Ms. Ghazikanian?" Kamala asked tenuously, turning around to face her teacher. "I know Iron Man said Spider-Man is only a reserve Avengers member in that press conference, but there needed to be five of them-"

But Annie Ghazikanian seemed to have slipped out of the classroom and joined her students as well.

"Ms. Ghazikanian?" Kamala asked. "Yeah. I guess I just answered my own question."

Kamala reached into her pocket, plugged in her headphones, and scrolled around for a few seconds on her phone before hitting play on It's My Life by Bon Jovi. Kamala unplugged her laptop, gathered her school things and sang along under her breath as she filled her backpack.

My heart is like the open highway.

Kamala noticed that Ms. Ghazikanian had left her purse.

Like Frankie said, "I did it my way."

Why was there a pile of dust on Ms. Ghazikanian's chair?

I just want to live while I'm alive.

She reached out and grabbed at it, trailing her fingers over the dust. Her phone began to vibrate. Kamala's mother was probably calling her from the car asking her where she was. Kamala wasn't looking forward to spending the entire car ride home being lectured for not taking the trash out this week.

It's-

Kamala examined her dust-coated hand. Something was wrong, something was bad, her hand was beginning to turn into dust just like her teacher's had before her.

-my-

Kamala looked outside, eyes wide as dinner plates, gazed up at her school's American flag. It was whipping through the sky at the sudden breeze, she could see now at this moment it looked just like his shield, protecting her from harm. For the second time Captain America was going to save Kamala Khan's -

-life.

Kamala's backpack, laptop and phone all crashed onto the hard linoleum floor.

*Snap*

…

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