23
Endgame
NEW YORK, 2012
"Thumbelina, do you copy?" Tony whispered into his mic. "I've got eyes on the prize, it is go time."
The past versions of Stark, Loki, Thor, and Kratos came walking out of the elevator to Stark Tower. The destruction of the Battle of New York had long since been cleaned up, and it was time for Thor to take Loki home to answer for his crimes.
"Bombs away." Antman whispered.
Tony watched as his younger self scratched his neck.
"Is that Axe body spray?" Antman asked over the radio.
"I keep a can in the desk for emergencies, relax." Tony replied, giving a look of suspicion at the past Kratos. "Can we focus, please?"
"I'm going inside you, now." Antman said.
Tony kept his eyes on the suitcase as the secretary of SHIELD walked up to his past self. He couldn't make out the conversation, but he remembered the general idea. They had to get the suitcase before the secretary got a hold of it.
"Hand over the case, it's been SHIELD property for 70 years." The secretary said.
"Hand it over, Stark." One of the agents said, grabbing for the case.
"Alright, move it, Stuart Little, things are getting dicey out here, let's go." Tony said into his mic.
"Promise me you won't die?" Antman asked.
"You're only giving me a mild cardiac dysrhythmia." Tony replied impatiently.
"That doesn't sound mild." Antman replied nervously.
The argument began to devolve into a shoving contest as SHIELD and Avenger personnel fought over the suitcase. Voices began to rise as the two groups pulled at the case.
"Do it, Lang!" Tony snapped. "Window's closing, pull my pin!"
"Here goes!" Antman said.
Suddenly, past Tony gasped and collapsed to the floor. The suitcase hit the floor with a clang. The group suddenly fell silent as Tony began convulsing on the floor.
"Medic!" Tony said nervously as his past self slowly died on the floor. "This guy needs some help!"
Suddenly, the suitcase slid quickly across the floor in Tony's direction. Giving a quick shrug, Tony lunged for the suitcase and nonchalantly walked away.
"Good job. Meet me in the alley-"
"Stark."
Tony stopped walking, his posture stiffened.
"Special K." Tony said, turning around.
"Give me the stone." Kratos said, standing close enough behind Stark for him to feel the breath on his neck.
Tony turned around.
"I...I can't." Tony replied. His grip tightening on the case. "Not after what you did."
"Then you know what will happen to you if you don't."
"STAIRS!"
A roar of anger came from the staircase. The door exploded open, and past Hulk came crashing through. Tony tried to use the distraction by running out of Kratos' reach, but Kratos grabbed Tony by the arm.
"Don't make me do this." Kratos whispered.
"NO STAIRS!" Hulk screamed as the civilians all scampered away from the giant green monster.
Hulk turned to Kratos.
"Jolly Green! Help a buddy out please!" Tony yelled.
Hulk looked at Kratos dead in the eyes. He gave a deafening roar and charged him. Kratos dropped Tony and ripped his blades out just in time to block a punch straight to his face. The SHIELD agents pulled their weapons. Past Thor looked at Kratos in absolute confusion, then at Past Kratos. Past Kratos looked at Thor, then at his future self. Loki kept his eye on the suitcase.
Kratos counterattacked Hulk with a slash across his chest. The Blades of Chaos cut only cosmetically into Hulk's skin. Hulk gave a yelp of anger as the blades slashed his chest. The green monster instinctually backhanded at the demigod, sending Kratos into the streets, smashing through cars and rolling into the buildings across the street.
"SWORD IS CHEATING!" Hulk screamed.
Kratos ripped himself out from the wall and waited for Hulk to make his way into the street. Out of the corner of his eye, he saw Thor coming to Hulk's aid, along with the SHIELD agents. He equipped the Cestus and ran straight for Hulk. Hulk threw a left hook, which Kratos dodged and returned with an uppercut to Hulk's jaw. Hulk went flying into the eighth level of Stark tower, sending concrete and glass down into the street at high velocity. The SHIELD agents all ran for cover as shards of glass came slicing down into them.
Kratos felt Mjolnir ram into his chest. The wind was knocked out of him, and he was once again flung into the buildings behind him. Wall after wall passed by his eyes as the hammer pushed him further and further into the block. Finally, he came to a stop, landing in a pile of rubble in an alleyway, blocks away from Stark Tower. He stood up and scanned for Thor. He heard Hulk's roar in the distance. He had to find Tony before he escaped with the stone back to the future.
"Lexie. Scan for the Stone. Where is he?!" Kratos asked.
"Scanning...it's moving away from us. I've marked it on your map." Lexie replied.
Kratos ran in the direction of the blip on his HUD. Suddenly, a massive green arm ripped through the wall next to him and plunged him into the street. He felt the road split apart as Hulk pushed him along the road, ripping up cars and street signs as they went. Kratos grabbed Hulk's pinky finger and pulled it away from him with a snap. There was a cracking noise as the bones in his pinky shattered. Hulk gave a scream of pain and curb-stomped Kratos into the concrete. While Hulk was nursing his broken finger, Kratos threw the blades into Hulk's body and used them to pull himself out of the hole in the concrete. Taking a more stable stance, Kratos gave the blades a yank.
Hulk staggered as Kratos pulled the beast down, pulling with the blades until Hulk was off-balance. Hulk fell to the ground, and Kratos jumped onto his chest. Before Kratos could begin to shred Hulk's chest, Kratos felt the static in the air rise. He ducked in time to avoid Mjolnir, which whizzed just by his head.
"Who are you, imposter!" Thor asked as Mjolnir returned to his hand.
Kratos ignored Thor's question and sent a volley of punches against Hulk's face with the Cestus. Hulk grunted with each blow. He grabbed Kratos and tossed the Spartan blocks away. Kratos rolled, ripping up street, until finally coming to a stop.
"Kratos," Lexie said. "The stone is coming this way."
"What?" Kratos said, turning his attention to the distance marker on his HUD.
100 meters...85 meters…50 meters…
Both Thor and Hulk came charging Kratos.
"GREY MAN BAD!" Hulk roared.
"You hide behind the mask of the Godslayer. Who are you?" Thor asked.
35 meters...10 meters…
Suddenly, a car flew straight at Thor, hitting him square in the face. Kratos looked over and saw his past self, picking up cars and throwing them at the two Avengers. Kratos used the distraction and charged Hulk, kicking the creature into the wall behind him. He leaped onto Hulk and rammed the Cestus into Hulk's skull, over and over until the green monster was no longer moving. Hulk slowly returned into Bruce, his green skin returning to its normal pink hue and his muscle mass shrinking to normal human size.
"He's alive." Lexie said, displaying Bruce's vitals on the HUD.
Kratos turned just in time to watch his past self punch Thor into a building. Past Kratos turned to Kratos.
"What are you doing here?" Past Kratos asked.
"Why do you aid me?" Kratos asked.
"You are me, whether from another time or place, I do not care. But if you are me, then you have a reason to be here."
"You cannot be sure it is me." Kratos said.
Past Kratos stared into Kratos' eyes. "I've lived with those eyes for many millennia. Those eyes are my own. For better or worse, your choice is my choice. Your quest is my own."
"He has the stone." Lexie stated in Kratos' ear.
"You have what I seek." Kratos said, pointing at Past Kratos.
Past Kratos looked down at his belt and grabbed the tesseract.
"What of Stark?" Kratos asked.
"He will survive." Past Kratos stated.
Kratos reached for the tesseract, but Past Kratos recoiled his arm.
"Tell me one thing." Past Kratos whispered.
"We do not have time for this!" Kratos said, raising his voice.
"Tell me why you use the blades again." Past Kratos demanded, a hint of disappointment in his voice.
Kratos blinked once or twice. He thought about telling his past self about Loki, about Thanos, about Abaddon, about Athena, about Artemis, about anything. It would take too long.
"You will understand."
"I had better." Past Kratos grunted, once again extending his arm to Kratos.
Kratos took the tesseract and crumbled it in his hand. The dust of the cube blew away in the wind to reveal the space stone, sitting innocently in his palm.
Kratos nodded to his past self.
"Good luck explaining yourself." Kratos said.
"You were an alien. You cast an illusion to look like me and controlled my mind. I broke free of the spell. I crushed you under a truck." Past Kratos said.
Kratos gave a nod.
"Why did you shave the beard?" Past Kratos asked.
Kratos ignored his past self, and in a flash of green light, he was gone.
/
"Are we sure the stones fit on this sword?" Lexie asked as Kratos touched the stone to the blade in random places.
"Eternity would not lie. I do not believe…" Kratos replied, touching the stone to the pommel, then to the crossguard.
Kratos gave a grunt of frustration. No matter where he touched the stone to the sword, it wouldn't stick. Kratos stood up to pace a little. He walked back and forth, eyeing the blade and scowling.
"Even in death, Zeus continues to fight me..." Kratos said to himself.
"Maybe it doesn't go on the blade. Maybe it goes in the blade." Lexie said.
Kratos thought for a moment. He picked up the blade and tried to feed the stone into the mouth of the face decorating the crossguard.
"No." Kratos said frustratedly.
Then, he looked at the small sliver of empty space lining the middle of the blade itself. Kratos held the blade out, parallel with the ground, and dropped the Stone in the gap. There was a flash of blue light and a surge of power that shot through Kratos' arm like an electric shock. Kratos looked down at the blade, and the Space Stone was resting, hovering inside the gap in the blade, held in place by two beams of blue energy.
Kratos looked at the blade, now glowing a blue shade matching that of the Stone. Kratos closed his eyes and thought travel. There was a flash of blue, and he was suddenly twenty-thousand feet in the air, over the surface of mars. He thought loom chamber, and in another flash of blue, he was back in the temple.
"One down." Lexie said.
"Five more…" Kratos said, turning his eyes to the mirror.
Kratos felt an itch on his neck.
Suddenly, a man appeared from nowhere, wearing a strange suit of armor.
"Stop right there!" Antman said, holding his hand out and speaking in as heroic a voice as he could muster.
"You are…?" Kratos asked, cocking his head to one side.
"I...really? Nobody ever knows...I'm Antman..." Scott said, pressing his hand to his chest.
Kratos's curiosity turned to anger. "You have come to the wrong place, insect."
"Oh, ho, ho, I am WELL aware I am out of my league here, but…" Scott started. "I can't let you do this. You're a madman."
"Madness is to face an Olympian without a weapon." Kratos argued, wrapping both hands around the Blade of Olympus.
"Oh it's mad, but I have one 'little' trick up my sleeve..." Scott replied.
There was a whoosh, and Antman was nowhere to be seen. Kratos scanned the room.
"Scanning." Lexie announced. "Watch out!"
Kratos felt something punch him in the face. His face jerked with the force of the blow. Another one hit his other side. Then an uppercut.
"What sorcery is this?" Kratos asked, swinging the blade through the air, sending beams of energy across the chamber.
The beams arced across the room, shooting holes through the walls of the temple.
"He's almost microscopic, somehow. I have acquired his heat signature." Lexie said.
Kratos' vision went to infrared, and he saw it. A little red dot jumping around, dodging his blade left and right. The little dot jumped for his head for another strike. Kratos aimed his hand for the dot and closed his fist around it.
And gave it a squeeze.
Kratos opened his palm, but there was no heat signature at all. Then, there was a massive heat signature. Kratos pulled his hand away as Antman grew to the size of the chamber, his head breaking through the ceiling.
"Okay, evil god man." Scott said, looking down at Kratos. "Give us back that shiny rock!"
Antman raised his massive foot off the ground and brought it crashing down on Kratos. Kratos held his hands over his head and caught the giant foot on its way down. He freed one hand and stabbed the Blade of Olympus upward into the foot. The Blade's energy built up and exploded in a burst of blue light, creating a giant gaping hole in Scott's foot. Scott screamed and lost his balance, falling backward into the temple walls. Kratos jumped up onto Antman's chest and aimed the blade for his heart. There was a giant whoosh, and Scott was gone.
Kratos scanned the room, but there was nothing. No heat signature, no sign of the intruder. Kratos felt a little tug on his blade. He looked down at the stone and saw a little man, with both arms wrapped around the space stone as it sat in the blade. Kratos sighed and rolled his eyes. Using the power of the Space Stone, he materialized a tiny portal around Scott. There was a tiny flash of blue and Scott was gone.
"Where did you send him?" Lexie asked.
"The core of Jupiter." Kratos said. "On to the next stone."
/
EARTH, 2012
"I said...KNEEL!"
Loki watched as the crowd of humans that stood before him all began to lower themselves to their knees. Loki stood before them, clad in his horned crown and his royal robes. The gold color of his armor glistened in the blue light of his scepter, and his cape flowed calmly in the cool night breeze.
Loki gave a wide smile before his subjects.
"Is not this simpler?" Loki asked, striding into the crowd. "Is this not your natural state? It's the unspoken truth of humanity that you crave subjugation."
Loki scanned the crowd as he waded through it. Every face he turned to look at was lowered in fear.
"The bright lure of freedom diminishes your life's joy in a mad scramble for power...for identity."
The crowd stayed silent.
"You were made to be ruled." Loki continued, his arm dancing eloquently in sync with his own words.
"In the end, you will always kneel." Loki finished with a wide grin on his face.
"The time of gods is dead, boy." Kratos grumbled.
Loki spun around.
"Who do you think you are, pale man?" Loki said.
"Give me the scepter, boy." Kratos replied, holding out his arm.
Loki's eyes went wide.
"You...you're the Godslayer!"
Loki began to back away from the hulking figure before him. For every step back Loki took, Kratos took one step forward.
"The scepter," Kratos demanded. "Now."
"You'll have to pry it from my-"
With one punch to the nose, Loki was on the ground. The crowd began to panic and scattered into the streets. Kratos picked up the scepter and reached for the blue bulb at the end of it. Suddenly, a volley of cannon fire from a quinjet hit his armor. The high caliber of the rounds knocked him back a step or two. It stung.
"Okay, baldie." Came Natasha's voice from the jet. "Drop the scepter."
Captain America jumped off the jet and landed with a thud on the ground.
"You heard the lady." Steve said. "Drop it."
Kratos looked at Loki. He considered simply taking this past version of Loki and starting over, but he knew it would not be the same. He knew that the power-hungry child was not his son. It would be several more years before they would even meet. Loki was not ready. Kratos pulled out the blade of Olympus and opened up a portal. Steve ran to tackle the Spartan, but in a split-second flash of blue, Kratos was gone.
"Do we have a positive I.D. on the bald guy?" Captain America asked, looking around for evidence of the scepter.
"I'm not sure, but we have Loki. Cuff him now, worry about the other guy later." Natasha said.
"Agent Romanov…" Tony's voice came over Nat's headset. "Did you miss me?"
AC/DC's Shoot to Thrill began to play in the Jet's loudspeakers. Steve looked to the sky to see Iron Man, flying in from behind the cityscape in the distance. Tony landed with a metallic thud and looked around. He stared at Loki holding his bleeding nose on the ground and shrugged.
"I guess you did miss me..." Tony said. "Don't tell me you took him down on your own, Choir Boy."
"Nope," Steve said. "It was some pale, bald guy, red tattoo, greek armor, big glowy sword. He has the scepter..."
"Huh." Tony said. "Put out an APB for 'Can't miss him."
/
VORMIR, 1986
Kratos stood over the ledge, looking down at the misty abyss below. The cold snow whipped his goatee, and the everlasting solar eclipse in the sky cast a strange red glow over the stone pillars to his left and right.
"You see now, Ghost of Sparta…" Red Skull spoke, his ghostly voice carrying across the wind. "This is where your journey ends. You are without love, and those you loved, you could not sacrifice. The stone is not yours to take, as much as it is not mine to have. You are not strong enough."
Kratos peered into the distant horizon, the clouds colored red by the setting of the eclipse on the horizon.
"No." He replied. "But there are many who are."
Kratos opened a vortex and stepped through. Red Skull sighed and hovered away, continuing his eternal patrol of the shrine, forever forced to greet those who foolishly thought they could make the sacrifice. Kratos was not the first to fail, and he would not be the last. Red Skull would be there to greet each one in turn, until the end of days.
Then, the German scientist felt the wind change direction as another vortex appeared by the cliffside. Kratos came through, dragging a Luphomoid woman and child with him.
"Spartan…" Red Skull said as Kratos pulled the two through the vortex, "This is not the way it is done."
"It is the way I will do it." Kratos said sternly, dragging the two aliens to the edge and pushing them in place.
"Please don't do this!" The Luphomoid mother said, barely able to speak as grief overtook her.
Kratos ignored her pleas as he positioned them at the cliffside.
"Do it." He said coldly.
The Luphomoid child screamed as she tottered on the cliffside. The mother's tears streamed down her face as Kratos held her at the edge.
"You will both fall if you do not." Kratos whispered into the mother's ear. "And I will find another. And another. Until it is done."
The Luphomoid began to wail as she took her child in her arms. She looked down at her screaming child, then tried to run, but Kratos held her stiffly in his arms.
"I will go!" She said finally. "I will jump! Just...Please ensure she gets home to her father!"
Kratos paused.
"Fine."
Kratos let go out the woman. The Luphomoid turned and placed her child in Kratos' arms.
"Stay safe, little Nebula." The woman whispered to the girl, wiping the tears from her daughter's confused eyes before turning away. The child realized what was happening and began to scream, reaching out for her mother. The mother took one last look back, one last smile for her child to remember, before stepping off the ledge.
There was a moment of quiet as the child's screams were cut short from the shock. The sky began to glow as a beam of energy pulsed from the shrine. Kratos' sight was blinded by an overwhelming flash. When his eyes readjusted to the darkness of the planet, he was standing in a pool of water, far away from the shrine. The child was asleep, lying face-up in the pool, an orange glow emanating from her closed hand. Kratos took the child in his arms and opened her hand. The Soul Stone, a surprisingly small thing for such a devastating cost.
Kratos opened a vortex and walked through, returning the child to her village, as promised, before disappearing.
/
NEW YORK, 2012
On the roof of the New York Chapter, the Ancient One waved her hand. A magic fan flew across the sky, smiting Chitauri airships out of the sky with each flick of her wrist.
Then, her head flinched.
"You are not supposed to be here, Spartan." The Ancient One said.
"You know why I came." Kratos grumbled.
"Yes. And you know why I cannot give it to you."
"I do not care why you cannot. You will."
The Ancient one turned to face the Spartan.
"Kratos, you have already damaged the timeline beyond repair. I cannot give you this stone."
"Then I will do what I must." Kratos said, pulling the blade of Olympus from his belt, displaying the three stones, hovering in the gap in the center of the blade.
"You have three already." The Ancient One exclaimed. "You've been busy."
"Saved a little work for me." Came another voice.
The two turned with surprise to see the Hulk.
"Banner." Kratos grunted.
"Ghost." Banner replied.
"You control the green beast now." Kratos noted. "Surprising."
"I'm full of surprises." Bruce replied. "Wizard lady, don't give him the stone. You don't know what he's done."
"I do actually." The Ancient one explained. "He's doomed several timelines to destruction. Without the stones, they are wide open to attack from the evils of the universe."
"I do not care." Kratos replied. "I will fix it when I am done."
"Don't give it to him." Bruce pleaded.
"She has no choice." Kratos said. "You do. Leave."
"I don't think so." Bruce said.
Bruce charged Kratos, who learned a few tricks after watching Thanos. A blue flash and Bruce's ghostly body faded through the floor. Kratos turned to the Ancient One.
Kratos swung the blade down onto her, which she blocked with a shield of magic. All she had to do was touch him. She reached out for Kratos' forehead to push his soul from his body, but Kratos had anticipated the attack and protected himself with the Soul Stone. There was a flash of orange, and the Sorcerer Supreme was knocked back. Kratos stabbed for the Sorcerer, but with a flick of her hand, a gateway into the mirror dimension opened up, sending them both into it.
Kratos landed on a fractal platform. He looked around, at the disorienting landscape around him. The city in the distance had morphed into an unrecognizable maze of patterns and fractals.
"You can't hurt anyone here." The Sorcerer explained. "And there is no escape."
Kratos huffed and charged her, but with a flick of her wrist, the universe began to twist and contort even further. Kratos lost his balance as gravity began to shift this way and that, every motion of the Ancient One's hands reflected in the shifting of the New York cityscape. Kratos felt his feet slide out from under him as he began to fall, sideways and upside-down through the skyscrapers of New York. His rage began to fuel his body, and his wings sprang from his back. He regained his orientation and flew straight for the Sorcerer.
The Ancient One tried to block his approach with buildings and fractal structures, but Kratos only had to swing his blade, and the Space Stone's power would obliterate the objects in his path. Finally, he reached the Sorcerer. He aimed the tip of the blade for her heart. She saw the blade coming and put up a shield to defend herself, but just before the blade hit her shield, there was a flash of blue, and Kratos had disappeared. She looked around, scanning desperately for the Spartan. There was a moment of silence, then a flash of yellow as the Blade of Olympus lightly touched her shoulder. She felt her strength of will fail as her mind slowly fell from her control.
"Release me from this dimension, witch." Kratos ordered.
The Sorcerer Supreme tried to resist, but the Mind Stone had her in his grasp. She flicked her wrist, and the two were back on the roof. Kratos pulled the blade from the Sorcerer and kicked her in the back. Her body hit cement and brick as she tumbled across the roof before hitting the floor, her body broken and limp. She felt a hand dig into her shoulder as Kratos spun her around.
"Kratos...you would doom us all." She whispered.
"Silence." He said as he ripped the amulet from her neck and disappeared into the green vortex back to the Temple of the Fates.
Bruce burst through the door to the roof.
"Where'd he go? Oh shit…" Bruce said, noticing the sorcerer on the ground. "I'm so sorry, he trapped me in the planet's crust. I tried not to break too many artifacts...What happened?"
"He has the stone." The Ancient One said, blood leaking from the corners of her mouth.
"Okay, how screwed are we?" Bruce asked, picking her up and taking her inside.
"Even this future I cannot see…" The Ancient One replied weakly. "Our fates have been forever changed. It is now in Kratos' hands now not to 'screw us' too badly."
"So...we're screwed." Bruce said solemnly.
/
ASGARD, 2013
Heimdall's eyes gazed into the stars, watching over the realms, as he always had. He looked at the Light Elves and their merriment, to Midgard and their curious ways, to Jottenheim and their cold misery.
Then, something behind him caught his attention. Intruder. Heimdall pulled Hofund from the Bifrost and sprinted down the rainbow bridge to warn the king.
/
Kratos looked down at the unconscious girl. Jane Foster. Blissfully unaware that the God of War was standing over her. Behind Kratos, there was a quiet scratch of claw on stone. He turned around, and there stood Rocket, Aether extractor in hand, extremely surprised to see Kratos there. The two looked at each other.
Kratos shook his head and held out his hand for the extractor. Rocket looked at the extractor, then at Kratos. He shook his head in return. Kratos rolled his eyes and motioned for the two to leave the room. Rocket followed Kratos out into the empty hallway.
"Give me the extractor, creature." Kratos whispered.
"You think I'm going to hand this over to you, after what you did to Thor?" Rocket whispered back.
"You have no choice. Not against me."
"Look at you..." Rocket replied disappointingly. "You walk around, acting like you're the only person that lost somebody! Like an angsty teen! How old are you again, like...three thousand years? Grow up!"
"I-" Kratos started.
"You and I both lost the only family we had! I lost Groot, Quill, Drax, Gamora, and the bug lady, whose name I forget. And you think you're entitled to threaten me like you're the only fart in the universe who can get this job done?"
"Enough." Kratos insisted.
"Now, I liked Thor. I can't give you this extractor. You're going to have to kill me."
"You do not understand…" Kratos started.
"Oh, I understand, alright! All you care about is yourself. You and your stupid son! I bet all you'll do with the stones is bring him back, and leave the rest of us with nothing."
Kratos was surprised by the little creature and its fearlessness.
"Go on. Do it. Rip my head off. Get it over with." Rocket said, tightening his grip on the extractor, closing his eyes and looking away.
Kratos thought about killing this creature. It would be easy. One snap of its neck and it would be dead.
"Rocket." Kratos said. "Trust that I will make this right. Give me the vial."
Rocket opened his eyes and looked at Kratos with bewilderment. "No! Trust you?! Wha- God, No! You killed Thor! Like...what the Hell would compel me to-"
Kratos rolled his eyes and flicked Rocket on the forehead. Rocket's head flicked back, snapping his neck. The creature hit the ground, his hand opening to reveal the Aether Extractor. Kratos took the extractor and entered Jane's room. She was still unconscious. Kratos jammed the extractor into her neck and waited for it to fill with the red material.
The alarms erupted throughout the city. Kratos heard the clanking of armor coming from down the hallway. Yells of warriors barking orders at each other. Kratos backed into the green portal, and was gone, leaving Rocket's body on the cold stone of Asgard.
/
THANOS' SHIP, 2012
"Access the duplicate's current memory. I want to see what she's doing right now."
Thanos looked into her daughter's eyes as she sat motionless in the air, the computer cords plugged into her brain stem.
Ebony's fingers swirled over the console's display. There was a beep, and Nebula's hologram projector sprang to life.
"Who is that?" Thanos asked.
On the hologram, only the face of a scowling, pale man could be seen. Nebula's grunts could be heard through the speaker as Kratos punched her, over and over. Finally, the hologram blurred. The projection rolled, then came to a stop, only displaying a sideways view of the ground. The projection was deathly still as Kratos stepped into view, picked up the Orb and walked away.
"Whoever he is, I think he just killed your daughter." Ebony said.
"No." Thanos said. "He's killed a future version. And he's taken the power stone. Where is this footage taken?"
"Xandar." Ebony explained.
"That's where it was hiding, all this time." Thanos said to himself. "We must find this future Nebula and retrieve her body. If it is capable of time travel, then we need to unveil its secrets. That human has the power stone, and I want it. Zoom in on his face."
The hologram zoomed in on Kratos' face.
"Such an empty man. You can see it in his eyes." Thanos mumbled. "I will see you soon, pale warrior."