15

The End Begins

"Just hold them off until we can jump again! Brace for evasive maneuvers!" Thor yelled over the loudspeakers.

The citizens running past Kratos all stumbled to the left as the cruiser rolled to evade the incoming broadside. Despite the maneuvers, the ship wasn't built for speed, and it received the full brunt of the blast. The ship's bulkheads groaned and creaked as the hull integrity suffered. Coolant steam sprang from the piping lining the wall as anything not bolted down was flung to the left.

"Ghost, we have reports of boarding on deck twelve. You're the closest one." Brunnhilde's voice came over the comms in Kratos's helmet.

"I'm heading there." Kratos replied, his brisk walk turning into a run. As he turned the corner, a door was blasted open. The nearby Asgardians were blown away by shrapnel and fire as the door blew apart. Kratos steadied himself as Chitauri grunts came pouring out of the door. Kratos aimed Faye's axe at the aliens, who were busy picking off the surviving Asgardians not hit by the explosion. The helmet acquired his targets, and he threw the axe with both hands at the horde. The axe hit the first alien, lopping its head off, then spun back around and sliced another Chitauri in half. The aliens were so panicked by the flying axe that they didn't notice Kratos walking up to one of them. Kratos punched through the chest of the nearest Chitauri, grabbed its plasma rifle and opened fire on the boarding party. The combined efforts of the Leviathan axe and plasma fire dropped the two-dozen creatures in a few seconds. Kratos pulled his hand out of the gut of the alien and reached his hand towards the axe. The axe vibrated, then flew from the alien corpse it was stuck in, across the hall, back into Kratos' hand.

As he whipped the dark blood off of his hand, he heard a whimpering voice on the floor. It was an Asgardian, covered from head to toe in third-degree burns. His legs were gone and his eyes were burnt away. Shrapnel peppered one side of his body. Kratos took the axe, walked up to the suffering Asgardian, and cut his head off. The body stopped quivering after a second and lay quiet on the floor.

"It had to be done." Mimir half-whispered.

"Yes." Kratos replied quietly.

Kratos continued his way through the blasted door into the galley. What was once a luxury cruiser's enormous dining area had become a burning hall of plasma damage and dead civilians. Kratos looked through the enormous windows. He watched as another volley of plasma fire from the Sanctuary rammed the cruiser's hull. With the turbulence of the impact, the large windows began to crack. Kratos ran for the exit, but the window quickly lost its strength and was torn away into space, followed by everything inside the room. Kratos was instantly pushed towards the window by the air around him. He lobbed a blade at the hull as he blew past. The blade caught hold, leaving Kratos hanging by the chain in the cold emptiness of space. Mimir's eyes opened wide as the unforgiving vacuum of space froze his decapitated head instantly.

Kratos's eyes followed as a boarding ship launched from the Sanctuary and rammed the cruiser, drilling its way through the hull.

"Helmet. How much fuel do I have left?"

"You have enough for three short bursts, but after that, you're dead in the water." The helmet replied.

"Get me to that boarding craft."

Kratos felt the lurch as the jets on his armor shoot him after the boarding craft. A bright light shined across the hull of the cruiser, and Kratos looked over to see another volley of plasma from Sanctuary's main battery. The helmet calculated the paths of the incoming plasma and shot Kratos out of the way before the rounds streaked past where he was just floating. The shields were already weakened by previous volleys, and gave way for a brief moment. Without the few short seconds of shielding, the cruiser's hull was blasted dead-on with a wall of superheated matter. The hull was blasted apart in a white explosion, and a crowd of Asgardians came pouring out of the damaged hull into the void.

"Can we save any?" Kratos asked.

"If you want to get back into that ship, you will have to use the last burst to get there. Those civilians are already dead." The helmet replied in that cold female voice.

Kratos looked back at the Asgardians as they were shot further and further into the cold emptiness. He knew their morphology allowed them to survive in space much longer than any mortal could. It would be a long and slow death for them. He turned his head away and shot back to the cruiser.

The Chitauri waited inside their cramped boarding craft as it drilled through the cruiser's hull. Eventually, the violent shake of the plasma drill ended and the craft thudded onto solid ground. The front of the craft opened up to reveal the cruiser's hangar. As the Chitauri readied themselves to fight in glorious conquest, they heard a thud from behind. They all turned around to watch as two flaming swords cut through the back of their boarding craft.

Brunnhilde ran up to the boarding craft that just burst through the hull, but was confused when she saw no Chitauri burst forth. She squinted to see what was going on, but could only make out the purple flashes of plasma and the screaming of alien voices coming from inside. Finally, the screaming stopped and a Chitauri head came rolling out of the craft's open door, followed by a river of Chitauri blood. Kratos stepped off, landing gracefully onto the ship's deck, drenched in purple blood, the Blades of Chaos steaming and sizzling in his hands.

"Thor, I made it to the entry point, but, uh...score one for the Slayer, I guess." Brunnhilde said over the comms as Kratos stretched out his shoulders.

"Are you well?" He asked, noticing her wounds.

"It's been a long day, but I'll be just fine." She responded. "Come on, there's more where they came from."

"I'm just fine too, thanks..." Mimir mumbled as his face began to thaw.

The ship groaned again as another volley hit the hull.

"The ship's back is broken," Thor's voice came over the comms. "I can't jump away without her ripping herself apart. Get the civilians to the escape pods! We will get out of this!"

"It's him! He's-" Another voice screamed as the radio went static.

"He's heading for the bridge!" Another unknown voice called out "Repeat! He's hea-"

Kratos and Brunnhilde looked at each other and sprinted for the bridge.

"This is the As...dian refugee vessel Statesman." The distress call rang in Kratos' ears. "We are under assault, I repeat, we...ssault! The engines are dead, life sup...failing. Requ...any vessel within range. We are 22 jump poi...Asgard. Our crew is Asgar...families, we... few soldiers...This is not a warcraft. I repeat, this is not a warcraft!"

Kratos charged through the burning halls, past the numerous dead, past the burning tables and steaming pipes. Any Chitauri that got in his way were dealt with without a moment to waste. The S.O.S, the gunfire and the screams over the comms went deathly silent.

"Hear me, and rejoice." A familiar voice came over the ship's loudspeakers. Kratos ' teeth clenched with the sound of that voice.

"You have had the privilege of being saved by the Great Titan." Ebony's snark voice continued. "You may think this is suffering...no. it is salvation. Universal scales tip toward balance because of your sacrifice. Smile...for even in death, you have become Children of Thanos."

The two passed by a group of surviving Asgardian children, running through the halls in a panic. One was screaming for her mother. Kratos picked up a dagger from a nearby Chitauri corpse.

"Follow me." Kratos said, putting the dagger away as Brunnhilde grabbed the youngest in her arms. They ran until they came across the route to the escape pods.

"I'll take them. Go help Thor." Brunnhilde barked. Taking off his helmet, Kratos got on one knee, took the oldest of the group and gave him the dagger.

"Survive." He said, putting both hands on the boy's shoulder. "You are now their protector. Be strong for them."

Kratos looked to the children as they followed behind Brunnhilde. The boy looked to the children, then to Kratos. He nodded and ran to catch up with the others. Kratos stood up and sprinted his way back to the bridge.

Kratos approached the blasted-open doors of the bridge. Nothing remained of the command systems; the room was nothing but fire, piles of rubble, sparking wires and burnt bodies. Kratos quietly looked around the corner. There was Thanos, looking over the defeated Hulk and he lay in a crater in the ground. Thor was restrained by a metal cage made from the scrap metal of the room's broken machinery. Kratos looked to Heimdall, also laying defeated on a pile of rubble. Heimdall turned his head to look at Kratos. Kratos watched Heimdall shake his head and mouth the words "not yet". Kratos' brows furrowed in confusion as Heimdall looked away. Heimdall muttered something, then the Hulk disappeared in a flash of light resembling the Bifrost. Thanos looked to the crippled Heimdall.

"That was a mistake." Thanos said curtly as he Grabbed Corvus' spear and ran Heimdall through. Heimdall gasped, then turned to Kratos. Kratos gave the dying soldier the honour of the eye contact as he died.

"You're going to die for that!" Thor roared, fighting against his restraints. As he spoke, a piece of metal unraveled itself from the cage and twisted until it was over Thor's mouth. Ebony grinned and put his finger over his mouth.

"Shh." Ebony whispered. After Ebony finished his work with Thor, he turned to Thanos and presented him the Tesseract.

"My humble personage bows before your grandeur." Ebony began, lowering his head as Thanos took the tesseract from his hands. "No other being has ever had the might, nay the nobility, to wield not one, but two Infinity Stones. The universe lies within your grasp."

"What are you doing, brother?!" Mimir whispered. "Stop him!"

Kratos stayed put. He didn't know why Heimdall told him to wait, or why he sent Hulk away, but he knew something.

Thanos crushed the tesseract with one hand, grinding the blue cube into dust. From within the dust, a small blue stone revealed itself. Thanos picked up the stone and placed it in a slot on his gauntlet. The room lit up with blue light as Thanos staggered from the power he just absorbed.

"There are two more stones on Earth." Thanos said, turning to the Black Order. "Find them, my children. Bring them to me on Titan."

"We will not fail you." Proxima replied.

"If I might interject..." A voice came from the darkness of the room. Kratos flinched, but waited, not sure what Loki was doing.

"If you're going to Earth," Loki continued. "You might want a guide. I do have a bit of experience in that arena."

"If you consider failure experience." Thanos responded disappointedly. The Order all sneered.

"I consider experience, experience." Loki argued.

Loki approached Thanos as Thor looked helplessly on.

"Almighty Thanos, I, Loki, Prince of Asgard...Odinson...the rightful King of Jotunheim, God of Mischief, do hereby pledge to you, my undying fidelity."

Kratos watched as Loki bowed before Thanos, then materialized a dagger in his hand. He looked to Thanos, who had a smug look on his face. Loki paused, then stabbed upward with the dagger straight for Thanos' brain.

Thanos was ready and had the space stone already in place to halt Loki's blade in mid-thrust. Loki was held in place as the blue energy projected from the stone held the dagger inches from his face.

"Undying." Thanos repeated. "You should choose your words more carefully."

With that, Thanos grabbed the dagger and twisted it out of Loki's hand. Thanos' huge hand grabbed Loki's comparatively small neck and lifted him off the ground.

"NO!" A roar came from the door. Thanos turned to see Kratos charging him, the flames on the Blades of Chaos glowing purple, and his aura glowing with the power of a supernova.

"You!"

Thanos dropped Loki and turned to face the new threat. With a blue glow, he flicked the gauntlet toward Kratos. Kratos felt himself fall straight through Thanos, and through the floor, as if he were a ghost. He dropped to the deck below and looked up. He aimed for where Thanos was standing, threw the blades into the ceiling and pulled down. The ceiling above collapsed as the blades ripped the metal and concrete apart. Thanos came down in a heap of rubble and fell with a thud onto his back. Before Thanos could recover, Kratos was on top of him. The blades were millimeters from Thanos' face before he managed to put up a blue field around himself. Kratos felt his entire body grind to a halt as the Space Stone held him in mid air for but a millisecond. Kratos pulled his arm back for another strike. Thanos immediately placed his foot on Kratos' chest, and with the Power Stone fueling his body, he kicked Kratos away. Kratos launched the blades at the floor and ceiling to break his velocity. The blades caught the metal and sliced some distance before stopping him. Thanos stood up and looked at his enemy.

"The 'Hero of Xandar'. Where did you get that power?" Thanos asked, looking at the creature before him. The aura of sheer power surrounding Kratos wasn't something he had seen outside of the Infinity Stones themselves. The metal began to melt around Kratos' feet as the Rage of Eternity fueled his anger. His eyes were a bright white and the light of the hall seemed to bend around his gravity.

"You get an upgrade, I get an upgrade. Thankfully, mine is better." Thanos said, raising the gauntlet in the air. A flash of purple lit the ship. Kratos ran for Thanos, his speed creating enough air pressure to warp the walls behind him. Thanos smiled weakly, and in a flash of blue and a cloud of blackness, he was gone. Kratos threw the axe at the portal as it closed, but it flew straight through the black cloud and stuck into the wall behind it.

"NO!" Kratos roared as the portal vanished. He watched through the window as the Sanctuary's shadow moved away from view. Kratos' rage turned to urgency as the Power Stone's magic began to take more and more of a hold, forming cracks in the hull and tearing the ship apart. Kratos recalled the axe, looked to the hole leading to the bridge, and jumped up.

"LOKI!" Kratos called out, looking frantically for his son.

"Over here!" Thor called out in a hoarse voice, holding Loki in his arms. "He's alive!"

Kratos ran over and picked both exhausted Asgardians off the ground. The floor around him began to give as purple destruction wrapped around his ankles.

"Valkyrie! Are you still there?!" Kratos called out, running through the crumbling halls to the escape pods. Nothing but static replied back.

"I can't find a viable route to the escape pods. The ship has lost 97% of its integrity." The helmet spoke as Kratos desperately tried to outrun the destruction that engulfed him.

"Can't wait to find out how long a magic head can survive in space…" Mimir mumbled.

"Wait! Let me think." Kratos said. He looked down to the unconscious Loki.

"We have about 15 seconds before the ship goes critical. Whatever you're thinking about, I would do it fast." The helmet warned.

Kratos felt something stir inside him. Rage and...something else.

/

Thanos looked out from his seat on the bridge of Sanctuary. He watched on the screen as the small cruiser broke apart from the inside, purple flame springing from multiple holes in its hull. Then, his grin turned to confusion as a small glowing figure burst from the hull and flew off into the cosmos, quickly disappearing from sight before the cruiser exploded in a brilliant purple ball of fire and metal.

"Pause footage!" Thanos said suddenly, standing up from his chair. "Reverse. Keep going. There! There...what was that?"

Thanos pointed at the small dot of light on the screen.

"See for yourself, father." Nebula said, zooming the footage to the figure.

"How...fascinating. Can we pursue them?" Thanos asked, walking up to the screen. He squinted and stared at the still image of Kratos. Giant, glowing ethereal wings sprouting from his back, Thor and Loki in his arms.

"They have outreached our long-range sensors, lord." Nebula replied, hesitantly. Thanos sighed and sat back down.

"Then, once again, the 'Hero of Xandar' will have to wait. Chart a jump course for Knowhere."

"Yes, father."