Disclaimer: If you recognise it, it came from the films or the comics, even if I flatter myself that I've put my own spin on things.
Feedback: All constructive comments or appreciative observations are welcome
The First and the Last
Carol might not have met Tony Stark, but she had to admit that his available technology was impressive considering what Earth had been capable of when she first met Fury. Considering that in her 'first' visit to Earth (in the sense of what she had witnessed when 'Vers' came to Earth before she began to regain her memories) she'd only been impressed by what Mar-Vell had discreetly contributed to the planet in terms of technology, it was amazing how little effort had been required to get the Guardians' ship back into working order. Rocket had insisted on supervising and piloting the craft, but Carol wasn't going to complain when the racoon (or whatever he was) clearly knew what he was doing when it came to technology. Some tech had to be adjusted to work with the alien machinery it was connected to, but Carol was still impressed at how advanced the stuff was that her old planet had to offer.
With the relevant repairs sorted and the ship's engines back on full power, every remaining Avenger had gathered into the ship and left Earth for the coordinates indicated by Nebula. Carol had stayed in the ship to keep herself fresh and provide an extra charge to the engines, but it didn't take long for them to reach Thanos's chosen 'garden', a relatively isolated planet somewhat on the edge of most inhabited systems. Carol had left the ship to take a quick survey of the planet and confirmed that Thanos was alone on the planet apart from his new farm, with no trace of armies or ground defences as far as she could tell.
She'd been quick and careful, but right now there was no sign that they had anything more to deal with other than Thanos, which meant it was time to strike.
They'd landed the ship a short distance away from Thanos's farm, with the goal of letting them all suit up and get in close for the actual attack. Seeing Doctor Banner in that large red-and-gold armour had been a surprise, even if his brief comment to Peter about 'the Hulk' being 'unavailable' raised questions she'd ask later, but there was still something kind of cool about seeing Captain America himself preparing to lead the charge, and Thor was obviously even more impressive.
With the team ready for action, Carol had volunteered to deliver the first assault, on the reasoning that she was the fastest person available and could basically guarantee that Thanos wouldn't expect her. The mountains around the building provided some natural protection to the farm, but only if a land army had been attacking from the rear, and there was still several places for the Avengers to approach Thanos after landing without him spotting them.
It had been almost disturbing to see the simplicity of the garden the mad Titan had erected around his new house, including a scarecrow wearing some kind of gold armour, but the large purple form walking slowly through those fields was unmistakeable from the descriptions she'd heard of Thanos. He had just walked into the house and was preparing to sit down after collecting fruit from his crops when Carol fired an energy blast through the roof. Able to see that she had struck her target, she crashed through the roof and slammed into Thanos, knocking him to his knees while she spun around his body and grabbed him from behind by his massive neck.
Doctor Banner was just behind her in his large armour, grabbing the arm wearing the golden gauntlet as Colonel Rhodes trapped Thanos's other arm. With the Titan restrained from three sides, it was easy enough for Thor to follow their cue, crashing in from behind and slicing Thanos's left arm off at the elbow. Any immediate threat the Titan might pose dealt with, Captain Rogers, Natasha, and Peter walked grimly into the house to join the others. Carol was surprised to see four mechanical limbs sticking out of Peter's back, but chose to focus on the matter at hand as the entire group kept their gaze on Thanos. Taking in the being who had done so much damage to the universe, Carol was surprised to see what seemed to be burns on the left side of Thanos's face and what was visible of his remaining limb under the simple white shirt he wore, but her attention was drawn elsewhere when Rocket muttered something from the floor.
When Carol saw the six empty spaces on the Gauntlet, rotated onto its other side after Thor severed the limb wearing it from its original owner, it was clear what had prompted the racoon's horror.
"Where are they?" Captain Rogers said, turning his attention to Thanos after exchanging a glance with Agent Romanoff.
"Answer the question!" Carol said, tightening her grip on Thanos's neck.
"The universe required correction," Thanos said, his tone clear despite the pain he must have been in after Thor's amputation. "After that, the stones served no purpose, beyond temptation."
"You murdered trillions!" Doctor Banner yelled, slamming his hands against Thanos, Carol only just managing to step aside before the Titan was sent along the floor of his hut.
"You should be grateful," the purple Titan actually said, only to get punched by Doctor Banner once more. Carol had heard of the being's reputation as 'the Mad Titan', but she was starting to realise just how apt it was if he still denied the idea that he'd done anything wrong by killing so many people.
"Where are the Stones?" Agent Romanoff asked, trembling as though fighting to hold on to her self-control.
"Gone," Thanos responded. "Reduced to atoms."
"What?" Peter said, stepping forward to grab Thanos's face and pull the Titan up towards him with a surprising show of force. "You used them two days ago…"
His voice seemed to trail off as he looked the Titan in the eyes, understanding dawning as he spoke. "And you used that power to destroy them…"
"Correct," Thanos said, a slight smile on his face as though he was pleased at Peter's reasoning. "Using the Stones to destroy the Stones… it nearly killed me… but the work is done-"
"NO!" Peter yelled, yanking his hands away (Carol was shocked to see that he actually left bloody imprints on Thanos's face) and moving to grab the purple alien by the collar of his thin shirt. "You fucking- you think you can just kill people and say that you did something good!"
"The universe… needed balance…"
"No, what it needed was for you to try and put your ego aside so that you could actually think about helping it!" Peter yelled, the rage in his voice so intense that Carol was privately glad to see she wasn't the only one concerned about the young man's sudden outburst. "I was there on Titan, remember? I saw what Doctor Strange showed you about your planet's past!"
"Then you know… why I did this-"
"I know why you think you're doing it," Peter countered, a bitter tone to his voice as he glared at Thanos, blood dripping from his clenched fists and staining the Titan's shirt. "This was never about actually helping anybody; you just want to be able to say that you were right the first time!"
"My victory… was inevitable," Thanos said, still ignoring the fresh wounds on his face as he stared back at the small figure in red-and-blue armour.
"We have to tear this place apart," Colonel Rhodes looked urgently around the hut. "He-he-he has to be lying."
"My father is many things," Nebula cut in, taking a step towards her adoptive father as she spoke in a low voice. "A liar is not one of them."
The way that information was delivered seemed to put an end to any hope that Thanos might have been attempting some sick trick. The being before them might have a reputation for madness and ruthlessness, but Carol had never heard anything to indicate that he was ever anything less than honest about what he was doing.
"Thank you, daughter," Thanos said, as Peter released his grip on the Titan's shirt and stepped back, the young man's hands still dripping with blood. "Perhaps I treated you too harshly…"
Apparently driven to the final brink of rage by those words, Thor stepped forward, his hammer/axe weapon in his hands, and sliced forward, severing Thanos's head from the rest of his body. The large form fell to the floor as the head rolled to the side, the only initial response being Nebula reaching up to wipe some of the blood spatter off her face.
"What… what did you do?" Rocket said, looking at Thor in shock.
"I went for the head," Thor said, before he turned to slowly walk out of the hut, leaving the body of the man who had destroyed the universe behind him, no sense of purpose in his movements. As the rest of the team looked around at each other, lost for what to say in this situation, Carol's own attention only turned back to Peter when she heard something hit the ground near him. She soon realised that what she had heard was the skin that Peter had torn from Thanos's face earlier being released from his hands to fall to the ground, lying a few steps away from the decapitated head, along with most of the blood that had remained in those hunks of flesh.
As much as Carol wanted to tell herself that Peter had only done that in a moment of intense rage, she was suddenly worried about what he could be capable of if he really wanted to hurt people.
Still… for the moment, this was no time to worry about that kind of thing. With Thanos's actions having ensured that the Snap couldn't be undone, all that was left to do was get back to Earth and start making plans to at least try and rebuild society after such a devastating blow.
AN: For the record, Spider-Man's wall-crawling abilities are capable of tearing a person's skin in the manner described. In the comics, Peter's twisted clone Kaine spent some time as a serial killer whose trademark involved using his wall-crawling powers to literally tear a chunk of skin off the faces of his victims, right down to the bone. Peter's even done a lesser version of the Mark when he's suitably enraged or desperate (as an example, after Kraven the Hunter's wife Sasha sacrificed Madame Web and Kaine as part of a plan to bring her husband back to life, Peter used that 'trick' to take a layer of skin off Sasha's face, leaving a red handprint but not tearing off any flesh).
In any case, hope you liked the start of this fic; starting from the next chapter, we begin to explore how Peter will cope with being the one who lives in a post-Snap world when so many others aren't there any more…